U.S. Representative Tom DeLay, long known as one of the most prolific fundraisers and one of the most powerful men in politics, now has a new distinction.

DeLay is the 58-year-old Texan who was majority leader in the House of Representatives.

He was indicted Wednesday on a single felony count of conspiring with two political associates - Ellis and John Colyandro - to violate Texas election law by using corporate donations illegally.

Texas law prohibits use of corporate contributions to advocate the election or defeat of candidates.

The new distinction?

DeLay is the highest-ranking member of Congress ever to be indicted, according to a Senate historian.

Nice.

You know, even before the indictment, I was beginning to wonder if DeLay had lost his mind.

Shortly before the indictment, DeLay was saying some pretty bizarre things.

Amid a record growth in government, federal spending and deficits, coupled with the an enormous new entitlement program, DeLay and his Republican buddies were seemingly unwilling to figure out a way to pay for hurricane relief.

They just figured they'd put it on the government's $7.9 trillion tab.

This is no failure on the part of our esteemed lawmakers, DeLay says.

Furthermore, the hurricanes have 'introduced a valuable forum to promote the triumph of our ideas and solutions for government over the crumbling and outdated policies of the Democratic-controlled Congresses of past decades,' DeLay wrote.

Beyond that, the federal budget is doing pretty good, he says.

'After 11 years of Republican majority we pared it down pretty good.'

What?

O.K. the indictment was for an election law violation, right? If I didn't know better I would have thought DeLay got busted for possession and use of mind-altering drugs.

I understand how politics works, but his comments on the budget sound like some sort of drug-induced fantasy.

So let's take a look at those "11 years of Republican majority."

Discretionary spending - where Congress holds the purse strings - has gone up $420 billion.

Total federal spending has gone up more than $1 trillion.

Both federal spending and the size of government have increased by a third since W took office.

DeLay's delusional thinking aside, the budget problems fraught by conservatives really stinks.

And I'm a conservative.

So is the Heritage Foundation, a think tank in Washington.

Here's their take on the federal budget.

"Federal Spending is surging out of control. The growth of spending programs, especially middle-class entitlements, is a direct threat to the economy and will lead to huge deficits and debt, drastic cuts in other spending, or sharply higher taxes. Yet Washington seems paralyzed, unable to say 'no' to new spending and unwilling to restrain and reform entitlements.

"Besides a general failure of leadership in addressing entitlements, inaction is almost guaranteed by an outdated budget process that hides future program costs and fails to require lawmakers to make serious choices.

"This must change. If it does not, a growing government will steadily erode economic performance and personal freedom. A properly limited federal government can be achieved only with a new budget process that discloses the true long-term costs of programs, limits total spending, and forces real choices among priorities, together with a serious reform of Medicare and Social Security that reduces liabilities while improving the programs."

I fully agree with that assessment as would any right-thinking individual.

However, our lawmakers, for whatever reason, are either unwilling or unable to come around to that kind of thought process.

Case in point.

A good way to pay for hurricane cleanup is to offset the costs someplace else in the budget.

DeLay says nobody came up with any workable offsets.

Actually, a study committee, backed by a group of 100 or so lawmakers, most of whom were relatively new to Washington politics, did come up with a couple hundred billion dollars in offsets.

Things like:

• Delaying the prescription drug benefit.

• Cutting the 6,000 earmarked projects in the recent highway bill. ("Earmarked" is a pleasant euphemism for "pork barrel.")

• Reducing farm subsidies.

• Reducing federal subsidies to Amtrak.

• Eliminating the Advanced Technology Program.

Sounds highly doable to me.

But no.

The Republican leadership took the leader of the study committee - Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind. - to the woodshed.

There has been no talk of "offsets" since.

Republican or Democrat, our government is sorely in need of some new, principled leadership. [[In-content Ad]]