The first 100 days of any presidency are often watched closely to see what the new commander in chief will do. Will he stick to his guns and follow through with what was promised in the campaign, or will he sit back on his haunches and fail to get any real work done.

A large of of Barrack Obama's campaign talked about tax breaks for many people and new ways of spending money. I hadn't realized when he said that he would try to spend quite so much money - over $800 billion on various projects and agencies.

Now that he is trying push through his stimulus package, the House Republicans are doing their part and standing up against such reckless spending. They offered a counter proposal today in an effort to reduce some of the spending and turn more to tax relief. (hooray!)

One House Republican voiced an opinion dripping with the kind of logic I wish our president would express:

"If government spending was going to get us out of this mess, we'd have been out a long time ago, because that's all we've been doing," said Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. "This is not going to work. That's why we've got a bill we think will work."

Obviously extensive spending will not drag this country out of the recession and debt it's in. Many of those billions that Obama wants to spend are gift-spending items - pet projects and personal favors to fellow Democrats who want things done in their regions.

Under the counter-proposal, a 5 percent cut in income taxes across the board would keep money in workers' pockets. The bill also would increase the child tax credit from $1000 to $5000. Just imagine how much a family of four could use an extra $8000 every year!

It's unclear whether this bills stands much of a chance in the Democratic-controlled House, but according to Fox News, there are 65 supports thus far. I hope that more people will see the fallacy in Obama's spending - sorry, STIMULUS - plan and see the logic in this tax relief act!