[BitwiseFool]

Beyond the "both sides" problem, no State's representation (House and Senate) has any incentive to tangibly reduce spending. Federal money will always be seen as something to maximize for your constituents because it is primarily funded by the rest of the country. Even if you managed to elect some severely stingy representatives, they can only really manage to reduce spending to their own districts. That void would be filled by greedier and less fiscally concerned representatives from other states. Politicians that unilaterally cut spending to their own constituency run the risk of losing the next election to a candidate who has no qualms with bringing in the pork.