In case you missed it, Jack called in to Fox Business Happy Hour yesterday evening to talk about debt reduction and the need to get our nation’s fiscal house in order.
To watch the segment, click below:
Congressman calls for repeal of failed economic policies
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Department of Labor this morning announced that a total of 20,000 jobs were shed in the month of January. While the report slightly reduced the total unemployment rate, Congressman Jack Kingston (R-GA) said today’s figures are further evidence the economic stimulus passed last year has failed.
“To date, 3.3 million Americans have lost their job under President Obama’s economic stimulus,” Congressman Kingston said. “How many more jobs do we have to lose before we can admit it’s time to change course? To put people back to work, we need to stop the spending, peel back the stimulus and empower the American people. Through targeted tax relief and paying down the debt, we can restore confidence in our economic future and reignite our economy.”
In case you missed it, Jack spoke on the House floor earlier today during debate on raising the debt ceiling. Jack believes the debt ceiling should be a mechanism to force Democrats and Republicans to come together and cut spending. Today, however, the House voted along party lines to avoid those tough choices and to increase the debt limit once again marking the sixth time since they took control of the House.
To watch Jack’s video, click below:
To read Jack’s release about today’s vote, click here.
Congressman calls for immediate action to decrease national debt
WASHINGTON, D.C. – On a party line vote, House Democrats today voted for a $1.9 trillion increase in the national debt. The sixth such increase since they took over Congress in 2007, the measure enacted today will allow the national debt to increase to $14.3 trillion.
Congressman Jack Kingston (R-GA), who voted against the measure, says today’s vote is a sign that Congress isn’t taking the debt seriously.
“The debt ceiling is supposed to be a mechanism to force Democrats and Republicans to come together and cut spending,” Congressman Kingston said. “Instead, what does Congress do? We push the ceiling further and further up. Instead of moving the ceiling, we need to cut spending and quit kicking the can down the road for another Congress, another election and another generation.”
How Will A Job-Killing Health Care Bill Help Unemployment?
Even as President Obama now attempts to re-focus his attention on the economy, a look at Democrats’ actions over the past year shows the party’s stubborn focus on a government takeover of health care that would kill jobs, not save them:
5,298—Total pages of health care legislation passed by three House and two Senate Committees[i]
30—Number of days House and Senate Committees spent marking up health care legislation[ii]
25—Number of days the Senate spent debating health care legislation[iii]
$729,500,000,000 and $518,500,000,000—Tax increases in the House and Senate-passed health care bills[iv]
5,000,000—Number of jobs that could be lost as a result of the taxes in the Pelosi health care bill, according to a model developed by Council of Economic Advisers Chair Christina Romer[v]
Meanwhile, all across America millions of workers have been struggling, even as Democrats rushed to pass a health care bill that would destroy jobs:
2,742,000—Number of jobs lost since President Obama signed the $862 billion “stimulus” bill[vi]
6,130,000—Number of workers unemployed for at least six months—an all-time high
29.1 weeks—Average length of time Americans have been unemployed—also an all-time high
15,267,000—Number of unemployed Americans—down only slightly from October’s 26-year high
17.3%—National rate of unemployment, including under-employed individuals and “discouraged workers” who have stopped looking for work
0—Days the Senate spent debating legislation providing permanent tax relief to small businesses
Even now, amidst the economic hardship facing American families nationwide, Democrats refuse to abandon their efforts to pass a government takeover of health care that would kill jobs, not create them. Many may ask: how many more jobs must be lost before the President and Democrats in Congress will abandon their health care scheme that would raise taxes on hard-working families and businesses?
Courtesy Senate Republican Policy Committee
In case you missed it, Jack spoke on the floor today in support of HR 4061 the, “Cyber Security Enhancement Act.” In his remarks, Jack talks about the evolution of technology and our growing reliance on it. As our reliance grows, so does our vulnerability and the number of threats.
He also notes the work being done at Armstrong Atlantic State University’s Cyber Security Research Institute to bridge the gab in empowering students to pursue viable careers in cyber security. To learn more about CSRI, visit http://www.cybersecurity.armstrong.edu/
To watch the video, click below:
Proposed Debt Limit Increase: $1,900,000,000,000 ($1.9 trillion)
New Debt Limit: $14,294,000,000,000 ($14.3 trillion)
Record Debt Increase: At $1.9 trillion this will be the largest increase in the debt limit in history.
Activity Since Last Debt Limit Increase: Assuming House Democrats proceed with their announced schedule this week by the time they vote on the debt limit it will have been seven weeks since they last voted to increase the debt limit by S290 billion. In that time, House Democrats have:
Courtesy House Republican Whip
First, we were the party of no ideas:
“One of our two great parties is now an organization committed to an unprecedented level of lockstep opposition to the president: a ‘Party of No,’ whose political strategy is an investment in failure for our country and paralysis for its institutions…No one expects Republicans to roll over for President Obama. But the ‘Party of No’ strategy is so disappointing because the history of Congress is full of loyal oppositions that shared responsibility for governing in trying times and shaped some of the most important legislation of their eras.”(Speech by Leader Hoyer at Center for American Progress Action Fund 12/7/09)
Then President Obama came to our retreat and acknowledged we have solutions:
“I suspect I will embrace some of them. Some of them I’ve already embraced.”
“I’ve read your legislation. I take a look at this stuff.”
“Actually I’ve gotten many of your ideas. I’ve taken a look at them.”
“I’ve read it. I can tell you what’s in it”
(President Obama at House Republican Retreat 1/29/10)
And all of a sudden those ideas we didn’t have were magically incorporated into Democrat legislation:
“Well I think the president made it clear that he has indeed listened to a number of Republican ideas, in fact, he pointed out that in the stimulus bill he incorporated a number of provisions that historically have been advocated by Republicans and some that were advocated at that time. For example, the small business tax cuts and the bonus depreciation. He pointed out that one third of the economic recovery bill involved tax relief, including tax relief for 95% of the American people.” (Rep. Van Hollen on Today Show, 1/30/10)
Then two days later, the nonexistent Republican ideas incorporated into Democrat legislation were bad ideas:
“I think the Republicans have been able to get away for too long in this last year with a hit-and-run political strategy,” DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen told Morning Score. “We’ve been, actually, making this point to our members and, frankly, we’ve been making it to the White House for some time now. It’s not that the Republicans are the party of no; it’s just that their proposals want to take us back to the Bush policies.” (Politico 2/1/10)
And on the very same day that those policies seem bad, maybe they are…maybe they really aren’t…maybe they are:
“The point is not that it was the fault of Bush and the Republicans,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D., Md.), chairman of the House Democrats’ campaign committee. “It’s [to tell voters] that if you elect a Republican to Congress, they’re going to pursue the same Bush economic policies that put us in this mess in the first place.” (The Wall Street Journal, 2/1/10)
So which one is it?
Courtesy House Republican Conference
Courtesy House Republican Conference
Yesterday, the White House released its budget for FY 2011. The budget spends $3.83 trillion in FY 2011 and contributes to a record deficit of $1.55 trillion this year. The following is a summary of the record debt, deficits, and tax increases included in the President’s budget, as well as a brief description of some of the budget’s main items.
Debt: The President’s budget would dramatically increase the national debt, more than doubling the public debt from $7.7 trillion today to $18.57 trillion in 2020. Under the President’s budget, from today until the end of 2010, public debt would rise by $1.53 trillion or 20 percent. By 2020, the public debt would be 77.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), the highest total since just after World War II. By contrast, under current law, public debt would be $15.02 trillion in 2020, meaning the Obama Administration’s budget would incur $3.55 trillion more in debt than doing nothing. When President Obama took office in January, 2009, CBO estimated that the public debt in 2019 would be $9.3 trillion.
The AJC reports, “After hiding from his handlers at the Yellow River Game Ranch, then trying to climb the fence surrounding his plantation-style home, a reluctant Gen. Lee finally emerged at 7:35 a.m. and failed to see his shadow.”
Bring on the warmth!
ABC News’ Jonathan Karl reports:
The timing doesn’t look good. Four days after Sen. Ben Nelson voted in favor of the Senate health care reform bill, the Democratic National Committee cut a $459,000 check to the Nebraska Democratic Party, which was promptly used to tout Nelson’s “courageous” vote. Three days later, the DNC sent the Nebraska party another $20,000.
The transfer is noted in the last FEC filings and was first noticed by the left-leaning Americablog, which says the payment looks like a “payoff”: “I’m sure a lot of Democratic candidates running in 2010 would appreciate that kind of spending on their behalf, too. Nelson, however, isn’t up for reelection until 2012, so why get the money now, only four days after Nelson voted for the weakened health care bill?”
Click here to read the full report.
Courtesy House Republican Leader:
Working families and small business owners understand that making government live within its means is essential to building confidence in our economy both at home and abroad. That’s why the American people have been saying to Washington: “stop spending money we don’t have.” Democrats still haven’t gotten the message and President Obama has proposed another budget that spends too much, taxes too much, and borrows too much. Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) sums up Washington Democrats’ viewpoint best: “We are not going to save our way out of this recession. We are going to spend our way out of this recession.” How’s that approach been working out for families asking “where are the jobs?”
Here are 10 things every American should know about President Obama’s budget:
INSIDE THE NUMBERS: SPENDS TOO MUCH, TAXES TOO MUCH, AND BORROWS TOO MUCH
1. President Obama’s budget spends too much. Under President Obama’s budget, the federal government would spend a record $3.8 trillion in the fiscal year beginning October 1. This represents a nearly 30 percent increase in outlays since 2008. The President’s budget would also maintain the size of government for a second year in a row at 25 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), well above historical levels of 20 percent.
2. President Obama’s budget taxes too much. The President’s budget includes more than $2 trillion in tax hikes, with a nearly 20 percent jump in the first year alone. This includes tax increases on small businesses, investors, and families earning less than $250,000 per year – a violation of the President’s campaign pledge. The last thing American families and small businesses need right now are new taxes that make it harder to save, invest, and hire.
3. President Obama’s budget borrows too much from our kids and grandkids. Under the President’s budget, the federal government will run up a record budget deficit of $1.6 trillion in fiscal year 2011. Deficits never fall below $700 billion, never fall below 3.6% of GDP, and end the decade at more than $1 trillion. The national debt would double over five years and triple by FY2019 from FY2008 levels. Paying the interest on this debt would set American taxpayers back roughly $6 trillion over the next decade.
On Saturday, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Assett Relief Program (SIGTARP) released its quarterly report to Congress. The report, which totals 224 pages confirms the fears expressed by Jack when the bill was being debated.
It states clearly, “even if TARP saved our financial system from driving off a cliff back in 2008, absent meaningful reform, we are still driving on the same winding mountain road, but this time in a faster car.”
The report finds that TARP has failed to meet its stated goals:
More concerning, however, is the lasting impact that it may have. From the report:
To read the full report, click here.
Congressman urges President to go back to the drawing board
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Less than a week after proposing new measures of fiscal restraint in his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama today released a record breaking budget that increases spending, expands the national debt, and raises taxes.
“Rhetoric certainly doesn’t match reality in the President’s budget - it’s as if he wasn’t listening to his own words just last week,” said Congressman Jack Kingston. “This budget reeks of unaccountability and continues the dangerous tax and spend spree of the Pelosi-Reid-Obama government. We can’t afford this and the President needs to go back to the drawing board to put forth a responsible budget.”