Giuliani Criticizes GOP on Spending

Republican Presidential hopeful, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani addresses the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in Washington, Friday, Oct. 5, 2007. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) (Charles Dharapak - AP)

WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential contenders on Friday scolded Congress for extravagant spending of tax dollars, and Rudy Giuliani blamed the issue for GOP losses in last year's elections.

"We lost control of Congress because we were just like the Democrats as far as spending is concerned _ shame on us," Giuliani told the anti-tax group Americans for Prosperity.

Mitt Romney said: "It's time for Republicans to act like Republicans" and he promised to veto any spending increase that is more than the inflation rate minus one percentage point.

Fred Thompson made a joke of lawmakers' free-spending ways, saying that as a senator from Tennessee, he once "accidentally spent some of my own money."

Arizona Sen. John McCain also railed against too much spending, saying in a speech Thursday night that Democrats "will tax, spend, regulate and dictate for the benefit of special interests and partisan objectives."

Giuliani and Romney spent much of their speeches ridiculing Hillary Rodham Clinton and other Democratic candidates.

Giuliani quipped that "Republicans are amateur spenders, and Democrats are professional spenders."

Romney mentioned Clinton's argument that she is a candidate of change and said: "I think she would change America, and we'd go from prosperity to poverty."

Giuliani drew applause dozens of times as he described how he cut income and business taxes, slashed welfare rolls and trimmed employees from his city's payroll as mayor of New York. His record on taxes is an advantage for Giuliani, who is at odds with social conservatives who typically hold sway over Republican primary elections.

Yet Romney has argued Giuliani is vulnerable on the issue because the former mayor fought to eliminate a line-item veto, which a president can use to reject spending, and because Giuliani maintained a commuter tax in New York. And Romney advertises that he has signed a pledge not to raise taxes, which Giuliani has refused to do.

"Actually, as governor, I used the line item veto more than 844 times," Romney said. "I can't wait to do it in Washington."

At the presidential level, the line-item veto was short lived. Congress passed it in 1996, President Clinton used it in 1997, and the Supreme Court struck it down as unconstitutional in 1998.