Open the spigots

Politics | In a town not known for fiscal restraint, President Obama's first speech to Congress signals a historic surge in federal spending | Edward Lee Pitts

Charles Dharapak/AP

WASHINGTON, D.C.—When President Obama, during his first address to Congress, proclaimed to the gathered lawmakers they had a responsibility to "our children . . . to ensure that we do not pass on to them a debt they cannot pay," the loudest applause in the divided House chamber came from the Republican side.

Moments later those same Republicans sat on their hands when the president added that he planned to save the children from debt by letting some of Bush's tax cuts expire.

In reviewing the address and the first six weeks of the Obama White House most conservative lawmakers said it portended three things for the next four years: More taxes. More spending. More government.

In fact, conservatives are fearful that Washington has gone beyond the looking glass when it comes to federal spending: "We are on a spending spree of gargantuan proportions here," said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.