Last Tuesday night a GOP tsunami washed over America sweeping away an historic number of Democrat lawmakers on the federal, state and local level. The American people, frustrated by government run amok sent a very powerful reminder to every elected official of Abraham Lincoln’s immortal words at Gettysburg; that our government is a government of the people, by the people, and most importantly, FOR the people. We must not forget that or we will overstep our mandate and find our tenure in the majority to be very short.

First and foremost, the People want us to cut government spending. We have done it before and we can do it again. In March of 1995, the first Republican majority in the House of Representatives in 40 years, brought forward a rescission bill cutting $17 billion in spending across twelve different cabinet agencies, the Congress, White House and a variety of independent agencies. This new Republican majority must move as quickly to bring a rescission package to the floor. President Obama said that “he would be happy” to sit down with Congressional Republicans and go line by line through the budget to address our country’s enormous fiscal challenges. It’s up to the president to make good on his offer. Going forward, we have to impose hard, binding limits on the government’s ability to spend taxpayer money; things like automatic sunsets on all federal programs, and requiring a two-thirds recorded vote in the House of Representatives and in the Senate to increase the statutory limit on the public debt to force us to stop borrowing money.

Next the People want us to cut their taxes. It is not enough to simply stop the tax hike from taking effect on January 1, 2011; we must go further and cut taxes to get our economy moving again. Ronald Reagan understood this simple concept and cut personal and business taxes in order to jumpstart economic growth – and it worked. It can work again. For example, reducing the lowest individual income tax rates from 15 percent to 10 percent and from 10 percent to 5 percent will result in every taxpaying-family in America getting an immediate increase in their take home pay – an average benefit of $500 in tax relief from the drop in the 10 percent bracket and $1,200 from the drop in the 15 percent bracket. Similarly, the United States currently has the second highest corporate tax rate of any industrialized nation, putting American workers and businesses at a huge competitive disadvantage. Economists estimate that simply lowering the top business tax rate from 35 percent to 22 percent could create 350,000 manufacturing jobs and 2.13 million jobs overall.

Last, but by no means least; the People want us to fundamentally reshape how Congress conducts its business so our time and energy is focused on their priorities. During the 111th Congress the House of Representatives spent hundreds of hours “debating” resolutions on things like the 2,560th anniversary of Confucius, but we only took two hours to consider the government takeover of the health care industry known as Obamacare; that’s simply ridiculous.  We must bring real reforms forward that make the People’s house run smarter, cheaper and more transparently.

If we do all of these things and remember to keep listening to the needs of the American people first and foremost, we can avoid the mistakes and ethical problems of the soon to be departed Democrat majority. If not, election night in 2012 could very well end up being a reverse of this year and end up being a long night for Republicans.

FOR IMMEIDATE RELEASE                                                                                  CONTACT: John Donnelly
September 23, 2010                                                                                                     (317) 848-0201

Burton Statement On The GOP Pledge To America

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN-05) issued the following statement after House Republicans released a new governing agenda entitled “A Pledge to America”:

“We have listened to the people, and our Pledge is a united response.  The major policies in this new governing agenda—job creation and tax cuts, spending cuts and caps, strong national defense and border security, ensuring new laws have Constitutional authority, and the repeal and replacement of Obamacare—give voice to the American people, whose demands have largely been ignored by the current Majority.

“Our Pledge to America is an easy one for me to take, as its philosophies and policies are all things I have championed throughout my public life, if not already supported specifically through legislation.  Above all, our Pledge is something I am proud to take back to my constituents in Indiana.  Hoosiers who read our Pledge will find a genuine commitment to governing through our founding principles and for the priorities of our people. ”

NOTE:  “A Pledge to America” can be found in full here: http://pledge.gop.gov/

The preamble to “A Pledge to America” reaffirms Republicans’ commitment to principles of smaller, more accountable government; economic freedom; lower taxes; fiscal responsibility; protecting life, American values, and the Constitution; and providing for a strong national defense.  This new governing agenda is comprised of five specific policy plans that could be implemented right now if President Obama and Democratic Leaders would allow it:

•    Creating Jobs.  “A Pledge to America” reflects Americans’ demand for immediate action on policies that will end uncertainty for small businesses and help our economy get back to creating jobs.  This new governing agenda contains a plan to create jobs, end economic uncertainty, and make America competitive – including stopping all tax hikes, reining in red tape, and repealing ObamaCare’s ‘1099 mandate.’

•    Cutting Spending.  “A Pledge to America” embodies Americans’ rejection of the now-thoroughly discredited notion that we can simply tax, spend, and borrow our way to prosperity.  This new governing agenda contains a plan to cut spending and reduce the size of government – including cutting government spending to pre-‘stimulus’, pre-bailout levels, imposing a hard cap on future discretionary spending, and ending TARP once and for all.

•    Reforming Congress.  “A Pledge to America” acknowledges that we cannot get our arms around the issues of the day when we have a government that refuses to listen to the people and ignores their priorities.  This new governing agenda contains a plan to reform Congress and restore trust – including implementing ‘read the bill’ reform, allowing for more open and fair debate, and requiring that every bill contain a citation of Constitutional authority.

•    Repealing and Replacing The Job-Killing Health Care Law.  “A Pledge to America” recognizes that the American people continue to squarely oppose the government takeover of health care, with its higher costs, higher taxes, job-killing mandates, and Medicare cuts to pay for a massive new entitlement.  This new governing agenda contains a plan to repeal and replace the job-killing health care law with common-sense reforms focused on lowering costs and protecting American jobs.

•    A Strong National Defense.  “A Pledge to America” reinforces Congress’s responsibility to help provide for a strong national defense and fashion a coherent strategy to confront and defeat the terrorist threat.  This new governing agenda contains a plan to keep our nation secure at home and abroad – including passing clean troop funding bills, keeping terrorists off American soil, and fully funding missile defense.

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On Tuesday June 22, 2010 Rep. Burton spoke to congress about the direction of the economy and suggested that the way to turn the economy around is to cut taxes, not raise them.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                              CONTACT: Joshua Gillespie
April 15, 2010                                                                                             (317) 848-0201

Rep Burton Says Democrat’s Outrageous Spending Spree Must Stop!

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Burton offered the following statement to commemorate Tax Day in America:

 
“Today millions of Hoosiers are filing their taxes, many are also writing out a check to the government, and wondering what they are getting for their hard-earned money.  So far, under Nancy Pelosi’s Leadership, Hoosiers have gotten more government control over their lives, trillions of dollars in budget deficits and tens of trillions of dollars of government debt for as far as the eye can see. 


“I have said for many years that Washington, D.C.’s budget problems are not a money problem but a spending problem; and the Democrats continue to prove my point.  Since Nancy Pelosi took control of Congress, the Federal deficit has increased from $162 billion (FY 2007), to $459 billion (FY 2008), to $1.42 trillion (FY 2009). In FY 2009 alone the Federal government spent the record amount of $3.5 trillion – more than half of that borrowed from countries like China.  And in less than 3 years, the Democrat-controlled Congress has increased the debt limit five times, from $8.97 trillion in January 2007 to $12.39 trillion today—an increase of $3.4 trillion or 38.2%.


“Hoosiers cannot afford any more of this reckless spending.  I applaud and stand with those Hoosiers, in fact all Americans, who are taking a stand today and telling Nancy Pelosi and her liberal leadership in Washington, enough is enough, the outrageous Federal spending must stop.  I pledge to them that I will continue to fight those who want to mortgage the futures of our kids and grandkids for the sake of short term political gains because this is a fight we cannot afford to lose.

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House Republicans Adopt A Ban On Pork Projects!

Friends,

I have some exciting news!  Yesterday we won a huge battle in the war against out-of-control spending, as the Republican members of Congress voted to ban every Republican from requesting pork projects for the rest of the 111th Congress.

That's right - the pork-barrel spending process, where billions of dollars are secretly doled out every year - has been banned by Republicans in the U.S. House.

As you may know, since 2007, I have taken an annual pledge to never request a pork project and to always vote against them.

In the last few years, myself and just 31 other members of Congress have taken the "no pork pledge," and we have been pushing the rest of the Republican members to do the same.  We finally got our vote yesterday, and I'm proud to say that the Republican Party is, in no uncertain terms, leading the way towards fiscal responsibility and an ethical appropriations process in Congress.

Unfortunately, the Democrats in Congress still allow themselves to request pork projects, but I am currently working on legislation that will give them a chance to agree to a pork project ban for the entire Congress.  I'll keep you posted on any progress with that effort.

Sincerely,

Dan Burton