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Conrad challenged on budget, deficits |
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Tuesday, 04 March 2008 |
Letter from Renae Mitchell
Fargo, N.D.
The Republicans were rightfully punished in 2006 when they lost control of both the House and the Senate to the Democrats. Americans were becoming frustrated with the long occupation of Iraq and President Bush’s decision not to veto any spending bills. The Democrats promised to restore fiscal responsibility to Washington by bringing back the pay-as-you-go method of budgeting. A year later, it has become clear that Democrats led by new Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad have failed to live up to their promises.
Their budget could not even find one obsolete spending program that could be cut. They did not address runaway entitlement programs, which account for 60 percent of the budget. The Medicare problem is 7x greater than the Social Security problem and it will only get worse due to the retirement of baby boomers. Conrad talks about this problem, but obviously isn’t willing to do anything about it.
Their budget numbers also include spending all of the Social Security trust fund surpluses. Sen. Conrad attempted to put a “lock box” on these trust funds by introducing S. 1730, the Truth in Budgeting Act of 2005. This bill didn’t even make it past the Senate Finance Committee. Shouldn’t a senior senator like Conrad be able to push a bill as important as this past the first phases? This bill is considered to be dead and it proves that Conrad is ineffective in championing important pieces of legislation.
Conrad complains about President Bush’s deficit-financed Iraq war. So why does he continue to vote for the funding of the war with debt? Conrad continually talks out of both sides of his mouth. Introducing an expensive “task force” only moves leadership and responsibility away from Conrad. The fact is the unconstitutional deficit spending has been increasing every year since Conrad took office.
The notion that Conrad endorses Sen. Obama for president because he won’t be afraid to make tough choices and is committed to confronting our long-term fiscal challenges is laughable to me. Where is his proven record of making tough choices? Over the past year, if a controversial vote came up in the Senate, Obama was conveniently “absent.” Furthermore, Obama has proposed a whopping $287 billion a year in new government spending. Obama sponsored S.2433, Global Poverty Act of 2007, committing the U.S. to paying a Global Tax to the UN which would add up to $845 billion in additional spending. Legislation like this makes Obama’s tax -and-spend socialist agenda very evident.
Spend your government “stimulus” check funded with debt from China wisely because one thing is for sure: your taxes will go up with an Obama presidency and Conrad’s budget.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 23 May 2008 )
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