Domenici National Debt Initiative: A bit late

According to Michael Coleman of the Albuquerque Journal, former New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici has joined the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington. The organization’s goal is to convince Congress and the president to rein in the national debt.

Interesting that Domenici would join such an initiative. I could see him leading an organization dedicated to spreading nuclear power or some other pro-energy cause, but Domenici’s record in Congress certainly doesn’t strike me as that of a deficit hawk:

For starters, in his final year in the Senate, he received a gentleman’s “C” from the National Taxpayers Union. That is not exactly the rating of a true fiscal conservative, but it is representatives of Domenici’s NTU ratings; Also, according to the NTUF, during the 109th Congress Domenici voted to increase federal spending by $465,395,000,000 during that Congress alone. Again, hardly fiscally-responsible.

Specific, costly policies supported by Domenici in recent years include votes for Bush’s massive $1.2 trillion prescription drug bill and support for the trillion dollar Iraq War. I’m sure there are more.

My point is not to trash Domenici and what seems to be a positive effort in retirement to tackle a serious problem. Rather, I just wish he’d acted on his concerns about America’s massive debt problem while he had the power to actually do something.