Last year at this time, voters were swarming the polls, anxious to show dozens of leaders the door. In the 11 months since the moving trucks pulled away from Capitol Hill, a lot has changed. But, as Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) points out, not all of it is positive. While the House tugs at the Senate for tougher reforms, members of both parties can’t seem to kick their worst habit: congressional spending. “Just last week,” Sen. DeMint writes, “Democrats and Republicans in the Senate passed three new spending bills to increase 2012 funding above 2011 funding levels… In the spring fight to avert a government shutdown, Republicans promised $100 billion in real cuts,” he fumes, “but then compromised for $38.5 billion in future savings. In reality, the Congressional Budget Office found the deal still resulted in an increase of more than $170 billion in federal spending from 2010 to 2011. The ‘largest spending cut in history’ ended up being a spending increase.”

He goes on to sum up the other disappointments–the debt ceiling. Cut, Cap, and Balance. And the worrisome signs from the Super Committee. According to reports, there seems to be a growing tolerance for tax hikes among the Committee’s six Republicans. Hopefully, the rumors of Republicans backing tax increases are just that–rumors. But even Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), one of the conservative hard-liners, said yesterday that he’d be “willing to take some tax increases,” even after signing a letter refusing to consider them. “If we could have our way,” Sen. Coburn told Politico, “that’s what we’d get, but we’re not going to get our way, are we? We’re going to have to have revenue increases to get entitlement reform.” Not according to Sen. DeMint. If Congress were serious about cutting spending, the $1.2 trillion in deficit reductions would be a cinch. “I can find $1.5 trillion of budget savings in my sleep!” said Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas). Instead, Democrats are coaxing the GOP to take less than $1 of spending cuts for every $1 in new taxes, which, as Steve Moore points out, is more liberal than the recommendations of the President’s own fiscal committee. Fortunately, nothing–including these tax proposals–is final until the Committee releases its report.

Until then, Democrats will try to box Americans into higher taxes in the Senate, where the Left is pushing to limit charitable deductions again–a favorite agenda of this administration. Like us, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) understands what a mistake this would be. In a column for his hometown paper, he argues that taking away 20% of some families’ charitable deductions isn’t attacking the deficit, it’s attacking the needy. If the Left succeeds, nonprofits stand to lose about $10 billion in donations a year. Any money “saved” by capping these deductions, Sen. Hatch insists, would only “fund more government bloat and government jobs.” Washington needs a lot of things–but our charity isn’t one of them!

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