Today's Novak column chronicles the dissension within Republican ranks over the ever-swelling federal budget. According to Novak, the House leadership has been putting pressure on junior members critical of Congress' free-spending ways because House majority leader Tom Delay "does not like his rank-and-file members depicting a free-spending Republican Party." If that's really how Delay feels, then perhaps he should do something to control the Republican Party's free-spending ways. It's that simple.

This Delay op-ed from the Washington Times is somewhat promising, but it was only a few days ago that Delay claimed there was no fat in the federal budget to cut in order to fund post-Katrina spending. Instapundit has more here and here.