Last week, the House of Representatives passed the Budget Control Act of 2011 to reduce spending by $917 billion and increase the debt ceiling by $900 billion. In addition, the bill would create a commission to identify a further $1.6 trillion in savings by the end of this year and require both houses of Congress to vote on a Balanced Budget Amendment.
My vote was a down-payment on the tough choices that must be made to get our spending under control in the months and years ahead. I would rather the Senate and President had agreed with our plan to cut, cap and balance our budget. However, they did not and compromise was necessary.
This bill is not perfect. However it is a necessary first step. These are meaningful and serious changes to the spending status quo. The spending habits of Washington for the last five decades have finally caught up with us.
International credit ratings agencies warn us that they will downgrade our triple-A bond status if we do not act to address our spending. That move would cause a negative ripple effect on anyone who needs a loan, has an investment or is looking for a job.
Similarly, I do not believe that a default on our debt would be good for an economy that is already struggling to create jobs. America should pay its debts. However we cannot simply raise the debt ceiling and postpone the tough choices that need to be made any longer.
The House has now passed two different plans to end this crisis. It is time for the Senate and President to join us in safeguarding our economy and to begin making the tough choices necessary to return our country to a fiscally responsible course.
I call bull.
He's parroting the same tripe that Boehner's been saying, and it's a hollow argument at best. You know what I think? I think he knows he's going against his constituents here, and is trying to pre-empt some of the furious phone calls he's bound to get today (one of which will be from me). He went along to save Boehner's butt and so he can say he helped pass a solution, but quite frankly, I'm done with Republicans who go squishy like this when it counts most and resort to half-measures that no one with any understanding or credibility in politics or economics thinks will accomplish meaningful results.
Let's review.
1. The debt ceiling increase is the full $2.5 trillion immediately.
2. Our credit rating will more than likely be downgraded anyway because they focus on spending rather than debt, and this is no meaningful change in spending.
3. As a result of the efforts of dozens of debt reduction commissions over the past 30 years, America's national debt has been reduce from $1 trillion to $14 trillion. Nice work.
4. America would never default on its debts. If crunch time came, the President would decide which bills got paid first, and no President would stamp his name all over the first default in American history.
5. Compromise wasn't necessary. These days, compromise only makes things worse.
6. These aren't spending cuts, they're tiny little reductions in the rate of growth of government. The national debt will be trillions of dollars higher in 10 years even if these cuts materialize. Which they won't.
If we're being real, we can count on two things. First is that Democrats will do anything and everything they can to further their radical Leftist/Socialist/Marxist agenda, which is pretty much the worst possible thing for both individual liberty and a healthy American economy. Second is that Republicans are full of hot gaseous emanations, and can be counted upon to stand up for the right thing clear up until the point at which it matters most, and then they will cave like the spineless cowards they are.
There's a reason Congress currently has a 6% approval rating, and this is it.
No comments:
Post a Comment