Over the past five months or so, Congress has spent nearly $2 trillion on bad bailout programs that have yielded no success due to a lack of oversight and accountability.

From the original Wall Street bailout program to the failed auto bailout and the AIG bonus debacle in between, government-subsidizing of inherently-flawed industries has been completely ineffective while simultaneously bankrupting the Louisiana taxpayer. It is for this reason that I decided enough was enough and offered an amendment to the federal budget to rescind all remaining bailout money and use that rather large sum to help pay down our deficit and debt.

Aside from the money allocated for the bailout program’s original purpose — buying toxic assets — the remaining money in the program could be put to better use by paying down our already out-of-control debt. If the administration finds they still need money to shore up the nation’s financial industry, it should return to Congress. And this time they should have a concrete plan in hand.

My amendment would have reclaimed all bailout money that has not yet been sent out the door by the Treasury. At present, that amounts to approximately $371 billion, except for $100 billion for Treasury’s newest plan to purchase troubled assets. Both the Obama and Bush administrations have abused the flexibility granted under the law to explore a wide range of alternative uses of the funds, from guaranteeing securities backed by student loans and credit card debt to using the money to refinance problem mortgages.

I’ve been a vocal critic of the original bailout program and led the disapproval resolution to block Congress from issuing the second portion of the originally allocated bailout funds. Unfortunately, both that disapproval resolution and my budget amendment were not enough to fight the growing popularity in Washington of spend, spend, spend with Louisiana’s hard-earned tax dollars.

But I will keep fighting to bring some fiscal sense to Washington, and to stop this irresponsible spending.

Please let me know about any issues of importance to you and your family by contacting me at any of my state offices or in my Washington office by mail at U.S. Senator David Vitter, U.S. Senate, 516 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510, or by phone at 202-224-4623. You can also reach me on the Web at http://vitter.senate.gov.

David Vitter is a U.S. senator representing Louisiana.