Last week I had somewhat of a fixation on the question of whether Republicans had an opinion about the recession. It didn’t seem party leaders were speaking much about it or had much to say about Barack Obama’s $700-800 billion economic stimulus proposal. So I guess it was heartening to see this morning that both the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post have pieces about the GOP "warning against overspending." It turns out that Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate leader, isn’t opposed to stimulus per se. The Journal’s Naftali Bendavid reports that he doesn’t specifically object to tax cuts, aid to state governments, and funding for infrastructure, school construction, energy efficiency, broadband access and health-information technology.  He just doesn’t want spending on loathed pork-barrel projects.

So McConnell is against wasteful spending. I’m shocked this doesn’t bump Israel-Hamas from the front page. Even lacking constructive proposals, McConnell and the GOP can– and should– play a constructive role in scrutinizing each item in the stimulus package. Hopefully the scrutinizing won’t grind the proposal to a halt or take it in some aimless direction.-MB

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