Now we know why Harry Reid never wanted any appropriations bills to come to the floor under normal order when he was Majority Leader. The concessions.

This week the House of Representatives is taking up the appropriations bill for Commerce, Science and Justice. This is an opportunity for Congress to exercise its constitutional power of the purse through policy riders that can help limit the size and scope of government.

By rejecting the tough choices this week, Senate Republicans have guaranteed a future President will face much more difficult budget choices, as they try to explain how their actions support smaller, more responsive government, a claim that those who pay attention will find harder and harder to believe.

It is not delusional to expect elected officials to keep their word. When a politician says they will fight tooth and nail for something, it is reasonable to expect that they will. It is not delusional to expect an elected official who put his or her hand on a Bible and swore an oath to defend and protect the Constitution of the United States to do that.

South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard today signed the General Appropriations Act, which sets the budget for Fiscal Year 2016. Including general, federal and other funds, the total budget for Fiscal Year 16 is set at $4.3 billion dollars.

In November, America believed it had elected a conservative House and Senate to provide checks on the Obama Administration. This upcoming week, the results of that election may effectively be overturned.

You can tell a lot about someone’s priorities by sneaking a peak at their budget. From churches and charities to Fortune 500 companies and individual households, financial statements show true colors, not just lip service. President Obama’s recently-released budget is no different and it showed the world what we already knew — he’s a tax-and-spend liberal with out-of-whack priorities.

In our new Omerica, I think I’ll join the winning side and try spending more than I make every day for the rest of my life and see how that works out. If I can just manage to get to where I owe so much that I’m too big to fail, I can start really living large on federal handouts, excuse me bailouts, excuse me stimulus.

The budget deficit for Fiscal Year 2014 was only $484 billion. In 2015, it will rise to $583 billion, after which it will return to below the $500 billion mark. There’s only one problem. It bears little resemblance to how much money the U.S. Treasury will actually need to borrow to pay for all of the obligations of the federal government over the coming years. In fact, in the 2014 Fiscal Year, the national debt rose by almost $1.1 trillion.

One can understand and accept that private individuals and organizations should be able to make an appeal to their own government in protection of their own interest. But what about government appealing to government in its own interest? When it comes to taxpayer-funded lobbyists in Pierre, the taxpaying public doesn’t have a chance against this crew. Here’s why.