Congressman Tom McClintock represents the CA Congressional district adjacent to the one I am in. He once ran opposite Schwarzenegger for Governor in the primary. I have been so impressed with his intelligence, candor and integrity in the several meetings I have attended with him. He is a true Conservative and my pick as a candidate for President:
Dear Friend:
This evening, the House voted on the Budget Control Act of 2011, which, pending Senate action, will increase the statutory debt limit. Please find a short note explaining my vote below.
S. 365 – “Budget Control Act of 2011:” NO. This act increases the debt limit by between $2.1 and $2.4 trillion, the biggest explosion of debt in American history. It allows the government to avoid spending reductions for the next two years while squandering our last best hope of averting a sovereign debt crisis.
I am opposed to this measure for the following reasons:
1.The purported cuts, even if realized, are far below the $4 trillion deficit reduction that credit rating agencies have warned is necessary to preserve the Triple-A credit rating of the United States Government.
2.It blows the lid off the House budget passed in April by more than a half-trillion dollars over ten years.
3.It makes no significant spending reductions for at least the next two years, essentially freezing spending at an unsustainable level. While the debt increase occurs this year, deficit reductions are to be spread over many years and could be reversed by future acts of Congress.
4.The spending caps are easily circumvented by declaring appropriations to be an emergency, a response to a “major disaster,” or necessary for the “Global War on Terror.”
5.The balanced budget amendment provisions are illusory because the amendment is completely undefined.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any thoughts or concerns through http://www.mcclintock.house.gov/contact.
Sincerely,
Tom
It was a mild win. Our share of the divided government allows no more then that.
It sets the stage for much better legislation after the 2012 election if the bratty foot-stomping of the absolutists don’t mess it all up. I don’t think they will. The numbers aren’t there for them.
You are kidding, right? Obama got his wish to raise the debt limit for the remainder of his tenure. He is the one celebrating, and off to his birthday bash.
This “new committee” they are talking about now will increase taxes. Again Obama gets what he wanted.
No, we fiscal conservatives have nothing to celebrate. We are in mourning for our country, at this juncture.
Agree with you.
Too many FReepers are blasting the vote because they have apparently forgotten that the House is only 1/2 of the Legislature and the other half and the Executive is ruled by the Dems.
What good would it have done to pass an excessivly conservative bill from the House only to see it squashed in the Senate?
At least this bill didn’t contain any overt tax increases, which Obama was insisting on, and it has automatic triggers of spending cuts if the bi-partisan House-Senate committee doesn’t provide recommendations in November; recommendations that have to be put to the vote in both the House and Senate.
Conservatives complain that there were not enough spending cuts (and I agree with that), while the Liberals complain that there weren’t income tax increases to permit more spending.
The gnashing of teeth and vitriol I’ve seen on FR the past couple of days about this subject is irrational, IMO.
Raising the debt ceiling only allows the US to borrow more money. It does not give Obama another $2 trillion to “spend as he wishes”, as so many posters on FR have said. Spending authorizations have to be approved by the House and then the Senate, so the debt ceiling increase is not a slush fund for Obama and his Communist handlers.