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I have been a long-time advocate of fiscally responsible budgets. As a Member of Congress, I have voted against every budget, continuing resolution and debt ceiling that increased expenditures since 2005. I firmly believe that it is our government’s responsibility to use your tax dollars wisely.
Our government’s budget is bloated, littered with waste, fraud and abuse. In 2010, the Democrat-controlled Congress failed to sign a single budget into law. Democrats funded the government through short-term bills, or continuing resolutions that contained massive amounts of new spending. There was little or no debate over whether or not the spending was necessary or whether the United States could afford it.
The voters ushered in a new Congress in November 2010, bringing new ideas and change to Washington. In January of 2011, the Path to Prosperity was released by the House of Representatives as a solution to our growing economic crisis. While not perfect, this document was the first step in the ongoing discussion to address our nation’s spending addiction and to restructure our fiscal priorities.
There are difficult decisions that must be made and programs that must be cut or redesigned. This will be a painful process. While the ideas are bold and the solutions are difficult, there is a simple reality that the United States government cannot continue to spend more than it takes in. American families cannot spend forty percent more than they take in and neither can the federal government.
The best way to get back on a fiscally responsible trajectory is to cut federal spending, cap it as a percentage of GDP and add a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution in order to ensure that Congresses tax dollars are spent responsibly in the future. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to come together and find areas of agreement and become better stewards of your tax dollars.
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