When the Outgoing Republican Congress Hands you Lemons...

...your best option is to make lemonade.  And that is just what Congressional Democrats are poised to do. 

I've been a frequent critic of the historically underwhelming work of the 109th Congress, particularly its failure to pass the basic spending bills that keep the Government running.  But rather than taking time to re-craft the nine unfinished spending bills, worth almost $500 billion dollars, further delaying action on the initiatives Democrats ran on, Appropriations Committee Chiefs Rep. David Obey and Senator Robert Byrd have come up with a much better idea.  Obey and Bird propose passing continuing resolutions for all nine bills, funding them at current levels through the 2007 fiscal year, and at the same time eliminating all federal earmarks. 

That's right, the pork projects which gave us the Abramoff and a dozen other still evolving scandals are going to take a one year hiatus.  And this proposal came from the king of earmarks himself, Senator Robert Byrd.  This isn't a permanent move, as much as a recognition that after the rampant appropriations corruption under the Republicans, the process needs a breath of fresh air.  Maybe that's why Byrd is willing to forgo $11 million for WV's Marshall University, as part of a total of $17 billion in savings.

I wonder if there are any outgoing Republicans scratching their heads right now and going, "I guess fiscal responsibility isn't all the tricky after all."