The United States will probably not face the same kind of crisis as Greece, for all sorts of reasons. But the basic problem is the same. Both countries have a bigger government than they’re paying for.

At the end of this month, the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform will hold its first meeting and begin to consider ways to dig our nation out from the irresponsible deficits created by the Bush Administration. This presidentially-created 18-member commission is tasked with addressing “the growth of entitlement spending and the gap between the projected revenues and expenditures of the Federal Government.”

While I and many of my fellow Members of Congress support efforts to balance the budget, it is critically important that this commission examine every part of the federal budget during this process. For example, the Commission should most certainly consider the $985 billion dollars spent on foreign wars since 2001.

Senator Bunning is blocking unemployment payment extensions because he wants to invoke pay-as-you go for Federal spending.

When we cut through the onslaught of partisan crap that the media and the political propaganda machines feed us, we learn that real people on the left and right have more in common than we think. It seems clear who is really standing in the way of progress.

It’s counterproductive for Democrats to make budget deficits an issue. Instead, we’re better off focusing on supporting popular programs and eliminating wasteful ones.