Washington, Nov 18 -

Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Menomonee Falls) sent a letter today to President-elect Barack Obama after hearing him say that eliminating the federal deficit is less important than getting the U.S. economy back on track.  In an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes show on Sunday, Obama said, “We shouldn't worry about the deficit next year or even the year after.  The most important thing is that we avoid a deepening recession.”

In response, Sensenbrenner issued the following statement:

“President-elect Obama’s comments on 60 Minutes relative to the federal deficit concern me.

“First and foremost, President-elect Obama’s comments seem to imply a complete disregard for the PAYGO rules that the House Democratic Leadership implemented in January 2007.  Back then, with great glee and gusto, House Democrats passed a package of bills that established the rules for the 110^th Congress that included a provision preventing legislation affecting direct spending or revenues from increasing the federal deficit.  In other words, spending bills could not raise the federal deficit, unless they included language stripping money from other sources in order to even out the proposed expense.

“Sadly, when push comes to shove, this hasn’t always been the case.  On at least 11 occasions during the past 2 years the Democratic leadership has found ways to work around this requirement in order to satisfy its legislative needs.  If President-elect Obama continues this trend on the critical issue of our nation’s economy, then where’s the ‘change’ that he spoke so eloquently of before the presidential elections?

“Moreover, I remember all too well the state of our union during President Carter’s reign, when we experienced 14% prime rates and 22% interest rates.  Thankfully, with the election of President Reagan, we saw our economy stabilize and inflation rates go down as he lowered taxes for all Americans to stimulate the economy.  I encourage President-elect Obama to take a page out of President Reagan’s book, and spare Americans the potential of experiencing another 2 or 3 years of extremely difficult times as he assumes leadership of this country.”

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