Democracy at work

Last week, Borders Group Inc.,
the owners of bookstores across country, filed for bankruptcy protection. The
company realized that it could no longer continue in business because its total
debts were equal to its total assets.

That same week, President Obama
introduced a budget that shows the national debt now equals our total gross
domestic product for the year. In other words, our annual “income” equals our
total debts. We are into dangerous territory where our national debt starts to
drag down our entire economy. We must take concrete action to reduce government
spending and debt.

This is what we did in the
House of Representatives. Republican leadership brought the bill to continue
funding the government to the floor under an open rule. This meant that any
member could offer an amendment or speak about the bill.

We saw vigorous debate over the
proper role of the federal government. Every part of our discretionary budget
was considered, from healthcare to defense. Nearly 600 amendments were drafted
with hundreds being offered. The House voted dozens of times, even working
until nearly 4:00 in the morning one day. Members on both sides of the aisle
thanked Speaker Boehner for maintaining the open process.

Things didn’t always go the
speaker’s way. In one particular instance, a Department of Defense program that
directly benefits Boehner’s district was cancelled. But Boehner recognizes that
democracy isn’t about always getting exactly what you want.

Listening to the arguments coming
from the other side of the aisle, you would think that this bill shuts down
every government program in existence. The fact is that the bill was written to
roll spending back to fiscal year 2008 levels. I don’t think there are many
Americans who think that the federal government was too small three years ago.

I have to admit, many of these
programs do good things. Not every program we cut is pure waste. But the
question we must ask as legislators is not just whether a program has real
benefits.

Taking your family on a
vacation to Disney World may be a wonderful bonding experience with memories
that last a lifetime. But each family must decide whether they can afford that
vacation and continue to pay the bills. Even when you do decide to go to Florida,
you must make choices about how to travel and where to stay.

Responsible legislating means
that we have to set priorities, something that Washington has neglected for far
too long. If we follow the president’s budget plan, the yearly interest that we
pay on the national debt will triple in just a decade. By 2020, we could be
paying $844 billion a year just to hold our creditors at bay. Think of all the
good things we could be doing with that money.

Our federal government does
important and necessary things: our well-funded military keeps us safe,
Medicare keeps elderly Americans healthy, our roads allow for the free movement
of products and people. But if we do not set priorities now, the debt will
eventually prevent us from doing these good things and our private sector
economy will crumble under this incredible burden.

At this time we have to
remember that government is not the sole source of good in this country. Over
the last few years, I have travelled across the 16th District meeting with
employees and volunteers at local food banks. With minimal or no government
assistance, they are helping families struggling in this economy.

These are not easy times, and
we must rise to the occasion as a nation. Americans must give generously,
business owners must look for new opportunities, and employees must work hard.

Congress must also rise to the
occasion. We can no longer ignore our budget problems. Over spending by the
government is one of the barriers to private sector job creation that must be
overcome.

Our work on the continuing
resolution must be only the beginning. At the same time, this needs to be an
open and transparent process with every Representative and Senator
contributing. In this critical time, representative democracy must work to
strengthen and unite our country.

* Joe Pitts is the Republican U.S. representative serving
Pennsylvania’s 16th Congressional District.

About U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts

U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts is the Repubican congrerssman representing Pennsylvania's 16th Legislative District.

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This Post Has 3 Comments

  1. Peter Jesson

    One wonders what planet Representative Pitts is living on.

    Where was he when Reagan tripled the National Debt with tax give-aways to the rich?

    And has he forgotten that Clinton ran large surpluses while presiding over one of the greatest economic booms in our history?

    Then there is the Bush disaster – systematic give-aways to the rich ($1.8 trillion), $3 trillion down a hole in the sand in Iraq, $500 billion give-away to the drug companies….and the list goes on.

    Bush. through profligate spending and incompetence, handed over a deficit to Obama that was already almost 9 percent of GDP and no stimulus funds had yet been spent. The huge deficits had nothing to do with Obama’s polices, and were entirely a Bush legacy.

    Then again, Bush left us with a looming depression induced by right wing Voodoo economics – no regulatory enforcement in the Financial Industry with the entirely predictable destruction of the World Economy (one year of World GDP – $75 trillion dollars). The current deficit is overwhelmingly the result of the right wing induced economic slump and the Bush deficits, not Obama policies.

    After all this right wing carnage about which, not only did Representative Pitts do nothing, he also acted as a major cheer leader, it is a miracle we are doing as well as we are. The irresponsibility of the Bush years has left us poorly positioned to deal with the current crisis, turning what should have been an easily financed economic rescue into a more difficult, anxiety-producing process.

    It is clear that Representative does not have the first idea about economics (to which there is currently only one rational approach – that of Keynes). Does he not recognize that we are in a liquidity trap and that it is only the heroic efforts of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve, employing novel ideas to make up for the absence of any stimulus from Congress, that is helping us crawl forwards?

    The time to reign in spending was during the Reagan and Bush years not now when when we are in the middle of the second greatest fiscal crisis in our country during the modern area. A crisis that was generated by Representative Pitts and his ilk.

    The best way to reduce the deficit is to stimulate growth in the economy and as Keynes presciently outline, the stimulator of last resort is the government.

  2. speedy

    Hah, I had to laugh at this diatribe against Joe Pitts. Who by the way easily and deservedly was re-elected in 2010. Yes, Obama's economic policies have proven so successful that the GOP picked up 63 seats in the last Congress. Every day in every way things are getting better. Fortunately the Stimulus Program was enacted thereby ensuring that unemployment did not get as high as eight percent.

    Upward and onward with Obamanomics.

  3. Peter Jesson

    Obviously Speedy spends so much time laughing he/she has no time to think.

    A typical right wing ignorant response: I know the answer; I know none of the facts, so let me make up a couple of slogans and pretend that that justifies my position.

    Anyone making less than $250,000 a year with a net worth less than $6,000,000 has to be an idiot to vote for Joe Pitts

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