Government Spending
Like most Americans, I am gravely concerned by the out-of-control spending and borrowing in Washington, D.C., which continues to grow day by day, increasing the debt burden on our children and grandchildren, with no sign of interest by Congress or the White House.
President Obama said he was going to solve an economic crisis caused by too much spending and borrowing with more spending and borrowing – and the results speak for themselves. Since January 2009, the national debt has grown by $4 trillion, and it continues to grow by $5 billion per day – three times the pace of the previous Administration. Today, the national debt is at $15.5 trillion (or $52,000 per person). And according to the President’s latest budget proposal, $6.4 trillion would be added to the debt between 2013 and 2022. This is unacceptable.
To get our fiscal house in order, we have enacted numerous reforms since last year and continue to look for ways to reduce spending. We began by cutting the budget for individual House members, showing that we can lead by example. One of the first votes on the House floor was to repeal and replace the meddlesome and costly “health care reform”. I supported a balanced budget amendment, which ultimately fell short of a two-thirds majority required for passage. We recently passed a Continuing Resolution that cut the budget by $100 billion – reducing non-discretionary spending to pre-stimulus, pre-TARP levels. We must now reform the two biggest mandatory spending programs – Social Security and Medicare. Doing so without raising taxes and without adversely affecting our older population and the most vulnerable will be a big task, but we are up to the challenge.