Blog Archives
DC Mayor, Council Members Arrested
One could say that DC Mayor Vincent Gray and some members of the City Council were not having a great day, as they were arrested yesterday for having a sitting protest on Constitution Avenue outside the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
In case, you were hiding under a rock for the last week, the federal government was not shut down, due to a compromise by both the House and Senate at the last minute that stripped funding from abortion clinics in DC and returned the school voucher program to DC. Of course, this enraged many including Gray and Del. Eleanor Holmes-Norton, who were complaining that the city was being denied services. Check out Holmes-Norton’s response. She was outraged that women were being denied abortion services and got the “raw end of the deal.”
You know, innocent lives (those yet to be born) were given the better end of the deal, as funding for DC abortion clinics was stripped from this compromise. Students in DC will also get the better end of the deal, as their parents will be allowed to decide which school is best for their child, thus enabling them to learn.
DC leaders have long tried to protest that they should be allowed statehood. Yesterday’s arrests, combined with the corrupt leadership of the city, is another reason why they should be denied such a right.
Where's Obama? Brackets or Being an Effective Leader
With the recent events in Japan and Libya, one has to ask where is President Obama’s response in the midst of these events. No need to ask, all you have to do is look at the headlines. Obama has shown that he is more focused on predicting bracket winners for the NCAA Basketball tournaments (both men and women), rather than the global affairs. It is no wonder why Secretary of State Hillary Clinton looks more Presidential than Obama, as she is pulling overtime work to address these issues. Meanwhile, Obama, who favors Kansas and Connecticut to win NCAA tournaments, is traveling on global missions to focus on economic development. I guess this is what you would call a “vacation,” in Obama terms.
Well, it’s obvious that Obama has shown that effective leadership revolves around vacations. In fact, he has traveled on more “vacations,” when troubled times have come about. The Washington Times wrote an editorial recently chiding Obama for his golf outings, basketball bracket selections, and his trip to Brazil, rather than handling the potential of a government shutdown and the crisis situations in both Libya and Japan.
The Mideast crisis is continuing, and Hillary Rodham Clinton has been the one taking the 3 a.m. phone calls. The secretary of state has been dealing with political reform in Egypt, a military crackdown in Bahrain and the continuing civil war in Libya. However, she is hampered by a chief executive who can’t make up his mind which course of action would best secure his place in history. It’s no wonder she took the opportunity to tell CNN she had no interest in continuing in the job in a theoretical Obama second term.
It’s 4 a.m., Mr. President, and you have obviously been hitting the “snooze” button since 3 a.m.
Side note: Since Obama has a penchant for bracket picks, let’s analyze what has happened to his bracket. Of course, everyone is feeling his pain, as the following picks have gone down to defeat: Michigan State, Louisville, and Georgetown. Basically, his bracket is the same as my bracket…not too shabby. This is coming from a hardcore NCAA basketball fan, but being an effective leader is more important than predicting winners in a sports tournament…don’t you think?
President Obama Releases Budget Amidst $14 Trillion Deficit
President Obama released his budget plan for fiscal year 2012 today, but it has not come without scrutiny, as it is a $3.7 trillion budget filled with tax increases and more borrowing.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Obama’s budget includes cutting defense spending by $78 billion over the next five years; cuts to programs, such as the Low Income Home Energy Assistance, while entitlement programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security would not receive any reductions. This budget would include a tax credit for purchasing electric vehicles and loans for nuclear power plant production.
With the nation’s debt amassing $14 trillion, Obama’s proposed budget is being welcomed by criticism. The U.S. House Budget Committee and the Senate Budget Committee found that the President’s budget has $8.7 trillion in new spending, $1.6 trillion in new taxes, and will accumulate $13 trillion in debt.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said, in a statement:
Today, the President missed a unique opportunity to provide real leadership by offering a budget that fails to address the grave fiscal situation facing our country. At a time when unemployment is too high and economic growth is elusive in part because of the uncertainty created by our skyrocketing debt, we need serious reforms that will help restore confidence so that people can get back to work. We need a government that finally does what every other American has to do in their households and their businesses, and that’s to live within our means. Instead, President Obama’s budget doubles down on the bad habits of the past four years by calling for more taxes, spending and borrowing of money that we simply do not have.
“President Obama has used tough rhetoric about the need to get our fiscal house in order, even assembling a bipartisan commission to address entitlement spending which accounts for more than half of our federal budget including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Unfortunately, the President again failed to put action behind his words by neglecting to even acknowledge these tough issues that everyone knows drive up our debt and must be reformed if they are to meet their obligations for younger Americans.
In fact, the deficit for this year is larger than all of Obama’s budget reductions over 10 years. Perhaps, Obama’s budget should focus on reducing government spending by cutting programs and entitlements to help address the nation’s debt.
The America Obama Believes In…
Yesterday, I was on a flight back to Washington from Texas (a place I would much rather escape to at this point), when I caught President Obama’s speech in Cleveland, Ohio about the economy. My first thoughts were: Was Obama going to continue spewing false promises about how he plans to fix the economy? Will Obama find something or someone to blame for the current economic climate?
Throughout the speech, it appeared as if Obama could not stop blaming House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) for the current situation and citing about how his proposals will continue to add to the declining economy. The speech was filled with more blame than talking about solutions he could propose. False promises: Check, Obama blaming someone while not taking accountability: Check.
The speech (which you can find here) was filled with some hypocritical lines. For example, President Obama promised the following:
But I am absolutely committed to fiscal responsibility, which is why I’ve already proposed freezing all discretionary spending unrelated to national security for the next three years. (Applause.)
And once the bipartisan fiscal commission finishes its work, I’ll spend the next year making the tough choices necessary to further reduce our deficit and lower our debt — whether I get help from the other side or not. (Applause.)
Obama said he was committed to fiscal responsibility. Since he was sworn in as President in 2009, Obama has signed the Stimulus and Omnibus bills into law. Additionally, he wasted taxpayer dollars to bail out the failing automobile industry in Detroit and has spent excessively, forcing our country into a $13.5 trillion deficit. As for his claims to work across party lines, I think his blame game on the Republicans will not be very helpful.
There was another claim mentioned in Obama’s speech yesterday.
So, no, our job is not easy. But you didn’t elect me to do what was easy. (Applause.) You didn’t elect me to just read the polls and figure how to keep myself in office. You didn’t elect me to avoid big problems. You elected me to do what was right. And as long as I’m President, that’s exactly what I intend to do. (Applause.)
Ironically, the American people in 2008 should have looked at Obama’s inexperience before voting for him. After all, he has been showing signs of avoiding leadership at all costs. For someone who mentions, “You didn’t elect me to avoid big problems,” he has went on more vacations than his predecessors and avoiding our economic woes. Where has he been when unemployment numbers continued to climb or when the federal deficit continued to balloon? He has been out on golfing ventures, etc. He has also failed to set the budget, which could lead to gridlock.
It leads me to question: Could the America Obama believes in revolve around doing nothing? Could it be an America that avoids addressing the challenges faced on a daily basis?
President Obama should remember a line from a famous movie: “Attitude Reflects Leadership.” It’s true. In a time such as this, we need a leader not someone avoiding the issues facing the nation.
Americans Want Commonsense Health Care Reform
Guest Post by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.)
Over the last few weeks I conducted a series of in-person town hall meetings and telephone town hall meetings throughout the 6th Congressional District. These meetings allowed me the opportunity to speak with thousands of my constituents and answer their questions. It is clear that the recently enacted “health care reform” law continues to be of great concern to a majority of Americans.
This sweeping health care reform law, pushed by Congressional Democrats and signed into law by President Obama a few months ago, will dramatically impact every family, taxpayer and small business in America. As I have said time and time again, this monstrosity, which I voted against, amounts to a big government takeover of our health care system – one that will lead to fewer choices, higher prices and rationed care. Furthermore, the bill creates more than 150 new government agencies and programs at a cost of well over $2.5 trillion.
In addition to mandating that folks have health insurance, the government-run plan included in the law, will force millions out of the coverage they currently have. In fact, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that 8-9 million people will be dumped from their employer sponsored coverage.
To pay for this massive new government expansion, the legislation contains a total of $569 billion in devastating new tax increases imposed on individuals and small businesses. This will result in millions of lost jobs as small businesses are forced to take money from salaries to pay new taxes. In addition, the legislation would cut Medicare for our nation’s seniors by over $500 billion.
Americans are frustrated by rising health care costs, and that is why we in Congress should have had the opportunity to work in a bipartisan way to cut health insurance costs and make health care better, more available, and more affordable for all Americans.
House Republicans continue to offer solutions that will empower patients with choices, make high quality coverage more affordable, and protect and preserve the doctor-patient relationship. I strongly support a proposal that will achieve these goals. Unlike the Democrats’ plan, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office confirmed that the plan offered by House Republicans would lower premiums by up to 10 percent and reduce the deficit by $68 billion over 10 years, all without imposing tax increases on families and small businesses and while improving the quality of your health care. The Republican proposal allows for the purchase of health insurance across state lines, allows individuals and small businesses to join large pools to get more competitive rates, provides malpractice reform to cut down the high cost of defensive medicine, allows full tax deductibility of health insurance premiums, portability of health insurance, and protection against pre-existing condition exclusions.
I intend to continue working to repeal the new health care law that kills jobs, raises taxes, threatens seniors’ access to care, will cause millions of people to lose the coverage they have and like, and increases the cost of health care coverage. It must be replaced with commonsense reforms that lower health care costs and empower patients.
To contact me about this or any other matter, please visit my website at www.goodlatte.house.gov.
IOUs Become Main Method of Payment for California
Mismanagement and giving into the unions have finally landed California right where they needed to be…in financial peril. The fiscal situation has been driven to the point, where the state has been issuing IOUs as a form of payment because they are unable to pay their bills.
According to NBC Los Angeles, John Chiang, California’s Controller will be issuing IOUs to cover payments to schools. With California on the verge of bankruptcy due to the Governor and the Democratic legislature being unable to come to a consensus over the budget, this might be the sole form of payment for a while.
Meanwhile, California’s economic woes continue on, along with our federal government’s decision to spend like there’s no tomorrow. Today, The Wall Street Journal released an article detailing the federal government spending, which totals $165.04 Billion. It’s only a matter of time before all of the cards collapse and the U.S. is stuck issuing IOUs as forms of payment. Unfortunately, taxpayers will be the ones holding the bill.
We Shouldn’t Bank on Bailouts
Guest Post by Congressman Bob Goodlatte
The free flow of money is fundamental to our capitalist system and the entrepreneurial spirit that defines America. Investors vote with their wallets and the best ideas prevail. However, this only works when the government does not inject itself into otherwise private matters.
Abuses have occurred recently in our financial industry and they must be addressed. Unfortunately the legislation which House Democrats pushed through last week will only perpetuate mistakes that have already been made. As America continues dealing with the sluggish economy and unemployment hovers around ten percent, the House passed, without my support, the so-called “Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act”, which will expand government at the expense of families and small businesses.
Specifically the legislation allows a team of federal bureaucrats to decide if a private business poses a risk to the economy. The legislation would allow the federal government to take over those private businesses and would even give the government the right to sell off the businesses’ assets.
While the alleged purpose of this bill is to prevent a concentration of money and power in a small number of large corporations, the bill would have the opposite effect. Knowing that the federal government will swoop in and take over any companies that it deems “too big to fail,” creditors and investors will be drawn to lend money to the largest corporations because of the implied guarantee that the federal government will step in to repay these loans. The natural flow of capital will thus be interrupted and flow to the largest corporations rather than to small businesses and entrepreneurs with good ideas, which are the true innovators and job creators of the U.S. economy.
Additionally, the legislation expands the reach of government in the marketplace by creating several new bureaucratic offices and agencies, including a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and an Office of Financial Research. These government offices will have broad authority to impose burdensome regulations on any business that lends money, extends credit, or enters into repayment plans with consumers. These new federal regulations would hit everyone from doctors and hospitals to furniture and department stores.
To address the need for reform of the financial industry, I am a strong supporter of the Consumer Protection and Regulatory Enhancement Act. Rather than guarantee future government bailouts, this legislation would force companies to bear the responsibility of their bad decisions, rather than force taxpayers to pick up the tab. It would do this by creating a new chapter of the bankruptcy code to make it more efficient and better suited for resolving these issues. This legislation would also ensure consistent enforcement, accountability and transparency by modernizing the current federal financial regulatory agencies overseeing our nation’s financial institutions.
Congress should not be passing over-reaching legislation like the so-called “Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act”. Instead government must make it possible for small businesses and entrepreneurs to access capital to innovate and create the jobs that are so desperately needed today.
To contact me about this or any other matter, please visit my website at www.goodlatte.house.gov.
A Fiscally Responsible Budget
Guest Post by Congressman Bob Goodlatte
This week House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced that, in fact, the House Democrats will not produce a federal budget resolution for fiscal year 2011. This marks the first time since the passage of the Budget Act of 1974 that the House of Representatives has failed to pass an initial budget, setting the spending priorities for the following fiscal year. What does this mean for American taxpayers? Since it is the budget at the beginning of the year that sets the limits for federal spending, Americans can expect to see even more out-of-control spending coming from Washington.
As Congress continues to spend at a near-record pace, the federal government has amassed $935 billion in deficit spending (amount that government spending exceeds the revenues coming in) in the first months of the current fiscal year with the annual deficit approaching last year’s record $1.4 trillion. These figures are staggering but with no budget resolution to force Congress to make the tough but necessary choices the spending spree will continue.
In stark contrast to the Democrats’ out-of-control government spending, I am pleased to support a fiscally responsible budget resolution which reflects Washington’s need to make tough decisions about spending priorities, cut wasteful programs, and respect taxpayers’ wallets. This alternative budget resolution, which was offered by members of the Republican Study Committee (RSC), balances the federal budget and achieves a surplus by 2019. The RSC budget proposes $6.4 trillion less debt than President Obama’s budget.
This alternative budget targets wasteful spending by requiring each committee to find savings equal to one percent of total mandatory spending under its jurisdiction. Additionally, the RSC budget resolution repeals the failed Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) which was the program designed to bailout financial institutions. By repealing the program it would save American taxpayers $36 billion. The RSC budget repeals the expensive government takeover of our health care system which recently became law and replaces it with important measures to reduce health care costs like medical liability reform and the freedom to purchase healthcare across state lines. It includes additional measures aimed at cutting unnecessary spending such as ending the taxpayer funding of presidential campaigns, reforming food stamp spending and selling a small percentage of federal assets.
As elected officials and stewards of the taxpayer’s money, we have a responsibility to put together a sustainable budget and stick to it without increasing the tax burden. I have consistently supported measures to rein in the federal budget and curb spending by voting for the tightest budgets and spending bills possible. Again this year I am a strong supporter of the RSC budget resolution which will set us on the path to balancing our federal budget and restoring fiscal responsibility to Washington.
To contact me about this or any other matter, please visit my website at www.goodlatte.house.gov.
Forget about the Budget…Let's Raise Taxes
Why doesn’t this surprise me (and forgive the irony)? The Democrats in control of Congress have neglected to pass a budget. With the deficit continually rising, it seems odd that Congress does not want to work on the budget. Then again, there’s not much initiative to do so with the current leadership, as they are more concerned with raising taxes.
Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) in media interviews yesterday indicated that taxes will increase to address the deficit issue. I guess Hoyer believes increased taxes will spur the economy and solve the deficit. Hoyer is wrong. Increasing taxes will hurt working families and it has never been the solution to addressing budget deficits and the economy.
Perhaps, it is time for Congress to examine their spending habits and create a realistic budget that will boost the economy and reduce the deficit.
Congress Needs to Pass a Federal Budget to Restrain Spending
Guest Post by Congressman Bob Goodlatte
Just last week the U.S. Treasury Department issued its “Annual Report on Public Debt” which confirmed that the national debt will soar to record levels. The report estimates that the total debt for fiscal year 2010 will reach $14.75 trillion which is over 93 percent of our gross domestic product (GDP). This current rate of government spending is having a crippling effect on our economy and overall job creation.
While federal spending is spiraling out of control, the House Democratic Leaders have failed to even propose a budget for the next fiscal year. Without a budget, there is no procedural enforcement mechanism to constrain spending. So far through the first eight months of the current fiscal year, which began last October 1st, the federal government amassed $941 billion in deficit spending which puts us on the dangerous track to an annual deficit (the amount by which government spending exceeds tax revenues) approaching last year’s record $1.4 trillion.
We are simply on an unsustainable course but there seems to be no end in sight to the Congressional spending spree. In fact, when White House Budget Director Peter Orszag was pressed on whether he would send a package of budget cuts to Congressional Democrats, he described it as a “fruitless exercise” with a “low probability of success” that would “go nowhere.”
Without the passage of a federal budget the reckless spending that has run rampant in Congress will only continue. A recent Gallup poll shows that this point is not lost on the majority of Americans. Seventy nine percent of Americans view the federal debt as a serious threat to the “future well being” of our country. In addition, one hundred American economists recently wrote to House Leadership saying the way to boost the economy and create private sector jobs is to take immediate action to rein in federal spending. It is the key to boosting the economy and creating private sector jobs.
Not only must Congress produce a budget but it must also work toward balancing it as soon as possible. I am a strong supporter of several measures that promote the establishment of a balanced budget and the elimination of wasteful government programs, including a Constitutional amendment that I introduced which requires the federal government to balance its budget each year. Congress must steadfastly hold the line on government spending which is why I have consistently voted for the tightest budgets offered each year.
The American people know that we can’t borrow and spend our way back to prosperity. The path to our economic recovery starts with fiscal responsibility in Washington. The federal government must follow the example set by our nation’s families and businesses – set a budget which eliminates unnecessary and wasteful spending. The future of America depends on it.
To contact me about this or any other matter, please visit my website at www.goodlatte.house.gov
