President Bush now has threatened twice to veto any so-called "emergency" appropriations bill that exceeds his $92.2 billion request to fund the war in Iraq and hurricane relief, plus $2.3 billion to prepare for a possible bird flu epidemic. Luckily, he has allies in the House leadership who say they'll never OK the $109 billion proposal approved by the Senate. Good. We hope this is a sign that Washington is coming to its senses about out-of-control federal spending.

How wildly out of control is spending? USA Today reported recently that the federal government spends 20.8 cents of every $1 the economy generates, up from 18.5 cents in 2001, when Bush took office. That's the most rapid growth under one president since Franklin Roosevelt, who served a dozen years in the White House as the nation struggled through the Great Depression and World War II.

The emergency spending bill shows how the process works. It began as a $92.2 billion request by the president to meet pressing needs. Senators quickly larded it with so much pork you'd think they were preparing a national barbecue.

Senators added $700 million to move a freight railroad line from a section of Mississippi's Gulf Coast where developers want to build casinos; $600 million for highways in states from Alabama to Alaska damaged by natural disasters as far back as seven years ago; $23 million for flood control in Hawaii and Sacramento; $20 million to help New England shellfishers recover from last year's outbreak of red tide; $15 million to promote the sale of Gulf Coast seafood. And on, and on, until the senators' imagination ran out.

The Republicans who control Washington have discovered what Democrats learned when they were in power: It's possible to create massive unfunded federal benefits such as the Medicare drug program, cut taxes by the billions and buy the voters' support — as long as you don't mind seeing the federal deficit soar.

That approach to governing may make politics fun, but it's grossly irresponsible. The president seems ready to acknowledge that. A congressional majority should, too.