Next time someone tells you the Republicans are the party of limited government, tell them about the American Dream Downpayment Act, one of Bush’s top domestic priorities. The American Dream was once earning and saving your own money to make a downpayment on a home. Thanks to the Bush Administration and the Republican Congress, today’s American Dream is to have the government give you someone else’s hard-earned money for your home!

Some conservatives tried to stop the bill, but the House GOP leadership (acting, I am told, at the request of the White House) passed the bill by unanimous consent at 7:04 on Monday the 8th, two hours after the House completed its last roll-call vote of the year. (Unanimous consent means someone on the House floor moves to suspend all other business and immediately pass a bill by voice vote. If no member in the chamber objects then the bill is passed. This procedure is usually used for non-controversial bills).

In fact, leadership did a group of non-controversial bills by unanimous consent earlier in the day, then moved on to special order speeches, leaving most conservatives to think that the housing bill would not be brought up. The GOP leadership then interrupted special orders to pass this new expansion of the welfare state when nobody was looking.