All now know that the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction has failed to reach an agreement. While there will still be $1.2 trillion of spending cuts as guaranteed under the Budget Control Act, we regrettably missed a historic opportunity to lift the burden of debt and help spur economic growth and job creation. Americans deserve an explanation.
The Congressional Budget Office, the Medicare trustees, and the Government Accountability Office have each repeatedly said that our health-care entitlements are unsustainable. Committee Democrats offered modest adjustments to these programs, but they were far from sufficient to meet the challenge. And even their modest changes were made contingent upon a minimum of $1 trillion in higher taxes—a move sure to stifle job creation during the worst economy in recent memory.
Unfortunately, the committee’s challenge was made more difficult by President Obama. Since the committee was formed, he has demanded more stimulus spending and issued a veto threat against any proposed committee solution to the spending problem that was not coupled with a massive tax increase
This wasn’t anything but a dog and pony show from the very start. I think most Americans never believed anything positive would come out of it, and we were right. There is something fundamentally wrong with Congress. They ARE NOT listening to the people, and they demonstrate their contempt for us all on a daily basis. Recently, ABC News put a bipartisan group together of four or five people, and told them to cut the budget, and I believe it was for a specific amount of several trillion dollars. Mind you, these people, liberals and conservatives, had no political agenda. Their motivation was what was the best for the nation. In a short amount of time, these people managed to cut the budget to the appropriate levels needed. Many years ago, 60 Minutes did the exact same thing with a group of liberal and conservative people, and they too cut the budget to sustainable levels which also reduced the national debt. If ordinary Americans can do this, why can’t the people who ask for our vote do the same thing? We are running out of time folks! We don’t have the luxury of waiting on election cycles.
CarlHS