To watch the segment, click below:

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.”

Analysts had expected the economy to gain 5,000 jobs in January but the report released today proved them wrong.  The numbers for December were much worse than previously reported.  The report showed that the economy shed 150,000 jobs rather than the 85,000 reported in January.

While the unemployment rate dropped to 9.7% from last month’s report of 10%, that number is based on interviews with a random sample of Americans.  Its results are not considered as accurate as the monthly tally of job losses which is based on data collected from a large number of businesses.

To watch Jack’s video, click below:

To read Jack’s release about today’s vote, click here.

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.”

Since the last time the House voted to increase the debt ceiling, it has enacted 7 resolutions congratulating sports teams and 23 resolutions honoring individuals, entities or promoting awareness of certain issues.  In addition, it has renamed 5 post offices and committed $50 million for a new park in the Virgin Islands.  Lacking, Congressman Kingston notes, is any legislation to address the nation’s ballooning debt.

Under President Obama’s budget submitted earlier this week, Congress will again have to increase the debt ceiling before October 1, 2011.

To address what he refers to as a debt crisis, Congressman Kingston believes the economic stimulus package enacted last year as well as the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) should be repealed.

“The savings from repealing TARP and the ‘stimulus’ would be a down payment on our national debt,” said Congressman Kingston.  “From there, let’s go through the federal budget line by line to cut spending and get our fiscal house in order.”

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

[i] Includes the 1,504-page Senate Finance Committee bill (S. 1796), the 840-page Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee bill (S. 1679), the 794-page House Ways and Means Committee Chairman’s Mark to H.R. 3200, the 1,040-page House Education and Labor Committee Chairman’s Mark to H.R. 3200, the 1,026-page House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman’s Mark to H.R. 3200, and a 94-page motion to instruct the Rules Committee on H.R. 3200 approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

[ii] The Senate Finance Committee spent six days marking up S. 1796; the Senate HELP Committee spent 13 days marking up S. 1679; the House Ways and Means Committee spent one day marking up H.R. 3200; the House Education and Labor Committee spent two days marking up H.R. 3200; the House Energy and Commerce Committee spent six days marking up H.R. 3200, including one day debating a motion to instruct the Rules Committee regarding the legislation.

[iii] According to the Congressional Record, the Senate debated H.R. 3590 on November 19-21, November 30-December 10, December 13-17, and December 19-24, 2009.

[iv] Figures based on Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation analyses of H.R. 3962 as passed by the House, and similar CBO and JCT analyses of H.R. 3590 as passed by the Senate.

[v] House Ways and Means Committee Republican staff calculation.

[vi] All jobs data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly employment data, http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost?ln

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:

• Increase of $6,157 per person
• Increase of $16,214 per household

New Debt Limit: $14,294,000,000,000 ($14.3 trillion)

• $46,319 per person
• $121,982 per household

Record Debt Increase: At $1.9 trillion this will be the largest increase in the debt limit in history.

•  This is on top of two other increases in the debt limit in the past 12 months that totaled $1.079 trillion.
• If the $1.9 trillion increase is enacted, the debt limit will have been increased by $2.979 trillion since President Obama took office
• Increase of $9,653 per person
• Increase of $25,422 per household
• Despites this record increase, Congress would need to increase the debt limit again before October 1, 2011 under President Obama’s budget.

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:

• Passed 7 resolutions congratulating sports figures or teams
• Passed 23 resolutions honoring individuals or entities or promoting awareness of certain issues
• Passed 5 bills naming post offices
• Authorized $50 million in spending to construct a new National Park in the Virgin Islands
• Passed 0 bills to reduce spending or lower the deficit.

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

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.

Deficits:  Under the President’s budget, the FY 2010 deficit will reach a record high of $1.556 trillion or 10.6 percent of GDP, which is $143 billion or 10.1 percent larger than last year’s record deficit.  Over the next ten years, annual deficits average $917 billion every year-twice as high as FY 2008’s then record deficit of $458 billion.  The smallest deficit under the President’s plan would be $706 billion in 2014.  However, the deficit would quickly increase again, before reaching over $1 trillion in FY 2020.  Between FY 2011 and FY 2020, annual deficits would total $8.53 trillion.  According to CBO, if current law were not changed the deficit would be $6.01 trillion over the same time span-$2.5 trillion less than it would be if the President’s policies are enacted.

Tax Increases:  The President’s budget would also increase taxes by a record $2.308 trillion over ten years.  The budget increases a broad range of taxes that would affect every taxpayer, including:

• $969 billion in tax increases by allowing the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts to expire for individuals earning above $200,000 (single) or $250,000 (married).  This includes a provision limiting tax deductions on charitable gifts to 28 percent, which one formula has estimated could decrease private charitable donations by $9 billion a year.
• $743 billion in new taxes associated with a government takeover of health care. 
• $122 billion in higher taxes related to changes in the U.S. international tax rules and enforcement.
• $90 billion in tax increases imposed on financial institutions, referred to as a “financial crisis responsibility fee.”
• $59 billion in tax increases associated with the repeal of last-in, first-out inventory accounting practices.
• $39 billion in increased taxes related to the repeal of tax credits for the production of natural gas, oil, and coal fuels.
• $24 billion in tax increases on carried interest, doubling the tax rate from 15 percent to 39.6 percent.
• $262 billion in additional, miscellaneous tax increases over the next ten years.

In addition, the President’s budget ignores any new taxes related to the Democrats’ national energy tax proposal, known as “cap and trade.”  Instead, the budget merely states that, “A comprehensive market-based climate change policy will be deficit neutral because proceeds from emissions allowances will be used to compensate vulnerable families, communities, and businesses during the transition to a clean energy economy.”  Thus, the President’s budget ignores the $843 billion in new taxes that CBO estimates the House-passed bill would impose on every American and assumes that redistributive spending programs will make each whole.  If these additional taxes were included, the President’s budget would impose $3.15 trillion in tax increases over the next ten years.

Other Issues of Note:  In addition to the fiscal issues above, the President’s budget also includes the following provisions which may be of note to Members and staff.

“Spending Freeze”:  The President’s budget “freezes” certain discretionary spending at FY 2010 levels for three years, through 2013.  However, the budget excludes the vast majority of federal spending from the freeze, including mandatory spending and “security” spending, including defense, homeland security, veterans, and foreign aid discretionary spending.  In addition, funding for Pell Grants also evades the freeze because the Administration proposes to convert it into a mandatory program.  The freeze would only affect about 13 percent of FY 2010 spending.  The President’s plan to freeze some expenditures also comes after a year of unprecedented discretionary increases which inflated current spending levels.  According to the Republican staff of the House Budget Committee, including the “stimulus,” the President has increased non-defense discretionary spending by 84 percent over two years.

Pell Grants:  The budget makes federal Pell Grants a mandatory program in order to clear approximately $17.5 billion from the discretionary spending category of the budget in FY 2010.  Pell Grants would automatically be increased with inflation.  This budgeting gimmick allows the President to clear billions from the discretionary spending category and meet the “spending freeze,” while making Pell Grants-and Pell Grant increases-permanent regardless of appropriations.

Student Loan Takeover:   Once again, the Administration’s budget has proposed to eliminate the federal government’s guaranteed student loan program, the Federal Family Education Loan program (FFEL), which allows students to receive federal loans through a private institution, and begin making all federal student loans through the Direct Loan program.  According to OMB this proposal would save $45 billion over the 2010-2020 period, but this scoring neglects the risk to the federal government of defaults.  According to CBO, when this market risk is considered, proposals to have the Direct Loan program monopolize student lending actually cost taxpayers.

Social Security Payments:  The budget proposes a $250 payment to each Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipient, identical to the payment made in the “stimulus” bill at a cost of $13 billion.  A similar provision was requested by the President in a second stimulus bill, but the House did not include it in the bill.

LIHEAP:  The budget includes $3.3 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and provides for a new trigger that allows financial assistance through the program to increase automatically.

Contingency Funding:  President Obama’s budget provides $41 billion for overseas contingency operations for the wars and missions in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq in FY 2010 and a total of $159.3 billion for FY 2011.  Last year’s budget included only $50 billion for this purpose in FY 2011.

Unemployment and COBRA:  The budget provides $49 billion for an extension of emergency Unemployment Insurance benefits provided by the federal government and $5.5 billion for an extension of the COBRA health insurance subsidy at 65 percent of the cost of employer-provided health insurance.

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!

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.�

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.

SPENDING FREEZE A GOOD FIRST STEP, BUT WE NEED TO DO MORE – AND NOW

4. President Obama’s proposed spending freeze is a good step in the right direction, but we need to do more.  Serious fiscal responsibility requires more than a few cuts here and there at the margins. Republicans have proposed adopting strict budget caps that limit federal spending on an annual basis and are enforceable by the President.  These caps were a critical plank in the budget alternative Republicans proposed last year, led by Budget Committee Ranking Republican Paul Ryan, and they are notably absent from the President’s budget. Without these caps, the federal budget deficit will continue to spiral out of control.

5. President Obama’s budget green-lights more government ‘stimulus’ spending now while delaying any spending freeze.  Last Friday, the President told House Republicans that delaying his proposed spending freeze represented the “consensus among people who know the economy best.”  In December, Leader Boehner released a list of 222 economists who support getting runaway federal spending under control — rather than adding more ‘stimulus’ spending — in order to help create jobs and get the economy back on track.

6. President Obama turns over tough spending choices to a deficit commission “without teeth.” As the Associated Press notes, “the commission has yet to be appointed and there’s no sure path to having its recommendations considered by Congress.” 

OUT-OF-TOUCH: DOUBLING DOWN ON THE TRILLION-DOLLAR ‘STIMULUS’ AND COSTLY, JOB-KILLING POLICIES

7. President Obama’s budget contains a “secret sequel” to the trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ it concedes isn’t working as promised.  A majority of Americans oppose the trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ and nearly three in four say it has wasted taxpayer dollars.  What’s worse, President Obama’s budget projects that unemployment will remain near 10 percent through the end of this year.  The Obama Administration promised the trillion-dollar stimulus would create jobs ‘immediately’ and keep joblessness below eight percent.

8. President Obama’s budget fails to pivot away from costly, job-killing policies that are causing uncertainty and making matters worse.  President Obama’s budget accounts for the implementation of both a  government takeover of health care and a ‘cap-and-trade’ national energy tax, two job-killing bills the American people have rejected loudly and clearly.  The President calls for a new national energy tax to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent by 2020 – a proposal which CBO has estimated would increase taxes by $870 billion, a full $224 billion more than President Obama’s proposal in the FY2010 budget.

BIPARTISAN SUPPORT FOR OUR TROOPS, BIPARTISAN OPPOSITION TO IMPORTING DANGEROUS TERRORISTS

9. President Obama’s budget spends hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to import dangerous terrorists to U.S. soil and give them the same rights as U.S. citizens.  Republicans have stood with the American people from the beginning to oppose the Obama Administration’s severely misguided plan to try the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks and his-co conspirators in civilian courts in downtown Manhattan. In recent days, more Democrats have followed suit.  Yet, the President’s budget irresponsibly spends hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on importing dangerous terrorists to U.S. soil, housing them at a ‘Gitmo North’ facility and trying them in civilian courts. 

10. President Obama’s budget ensures our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have the resources they need to succeed in their mission.   This is an area in which Republicans hope to continue finding consensus with the President.

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:

• Despite the fact that the explicit goal of the Capital Purchase Program (“CPP”) was to increase financing to U.S. businesses and consumers, lending continues to decrease, month after month
• the TARP program designed specifically to address small-business lending — announced in March 2009 — has still not been implemented by Treasury
• Notwithstanding the fact that preserving homeownership and promoting jobs were explicit purposes of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (“EESA”), the statute that created TARP, nearly 16 months later, home foreclosures remain at record levels, the TARP foreclosure prevention program has only permanently modified a small fraction of eligible mortgages, and unemployment is the highest it has been in a generation

More concerning, however, is the lasting impact that it may have.  From the report:

• THE BIG GOT BIGGER: “To the extent that huge, interconnected, “too big to fail” institutions contributed to the crisis, those institutions are now even larger, in part because of the substantial subsidies provided by TARP and other bailout programs.”
• HEADS I WIN; TAILS, THE GOVERNMENT WILL BAIL ME OUT: “To the extent that institutions were previously incentivized to take reckless risks through a “heads, I win; tails, the Government will bail me out” mentality, the market is more convinced than ever that the Government will step in as necessary to save systemically significant institutions. This perception was reinforced when TARP was extended until October 3, 2010, thus permitting Treasury to maintain a war chest of potential rescue funding at the same time that banks that have shown questionable ability to return to profitability (and in some cases are posting multi-billion-dollar losses) are exiting TARP programs.”
• BONUS CULTURE: “To the extent that large institutions’ risky behavior resulted from the desire to justify ever-greater bonuses — and indeed, the race appears to be on for TARP recipients to exit the program in order to avoid its pay restrictions — the current bonus season demonstrates that although there have been some improvements in the form that bonus compensation takes for some executives, there has been little fundamental change in the excessive compensation culture on Wall Street.”
• RE-INFLATING THE BUBBLE: “To the extent that the crisis was fueled by a “bubble” in the housing market, the Federal Government’s concerted efforts to support home prices — as discussed more fully in Section 3 of this report — risk re-inflating that bubble in light of the Government’s effective takeover of the housing market through purchases and guarantees, either direct or implicit, of nearly all of the residential mortgage market.”

To read the full report, click here.

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.”

The budget unveiled today increases spending by 5.7%, bringing it to a new record of $3.8 trillion in fiscal year 2011.  It also surpasses last year’s record-breaking deficit by $200 billion, bringing the FY 2010 deficit to $1.6 trillion – the largest as a share of the nation’s economy since World War II. 

According to an analysis by the House Budget Committee, the proposed budget would double the nation’s debt in just 5 years and triple it by 2019.

The budget increases taxes by more than $2 trillion over 10 years according to the Administration’s own estimates.  That figure excludes its proposed Cap and Tax scheme which was estimated to increase taxes $843 billion according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.

As for the President’s much-anticipated spending freeze, it only impacts 13% of the budget and does not go into effect until next year.  According to the House Budget Committee, the President has signed into law bills that would increase that portion of the budget by 84% over two years.

“A spending freeze doesn’t cut it,” Congressman Kingston said.  “We need to draw down spending and pay down the deficit.  Let’s go through the budget line by line and get our fiscal house in order.”

 During the appropriations process last year, Congressman Kingston supported an effort to return federal spending to FY 2008 levels, a movement which would have reduced the deficit by $84 billion.  In addition, he supported a budget plan which would have reduced the deficit in every year before reaching balance in 2019.  The push would have resulted in $6 trillion less debt that the President’s plan.

DEBT: The President’s budget doubles the debt in 5 years and triples it by 2019.

DEFICIT: The budget boosts the deficit to a record $1,600,000,000,000.00 ($1.6 trillion) this year.  The highest since WWII.

SPENDING: Spending reaches a record level of $3,800,000,000,000.00 ($3.8 trillion) this year.

ENTITLEMENTS: The budget includes a slew of new entitlement spending including a new health care entitlement that costs $1,000,000,000,000.00 ($1 trillion).

TAXES/REVENUES: By the Administration’s own estimates, the budget increases taxes by more than $2,000,000,000,00.00 ($2 trillion).  This number excludes the impact of the President’s Cap & Tax ($843 billion according to the Congressional Budget Office).   The budget increases taxes on those making less than $250,000 a year through its proposed Cap & Tax as well as nationalized medicine schemes.

BUDGET GIMMICKS: The budget relies on budget gimmicks we’ve seen before:

• President Obama unsuccessfully proposed cuts to the Abandoned Mines Land and Advanced Earned Income Tax Credit last year
• Other presidential perennials such as eliminating whaling partnerships and cutting Army Corps of Engineers funding were proposed unsuccessfully by Presidents Clinton and Bush.
• Relies on a paper tiger budget commission that will lack any legislative authority after being rejected last week by the Senate
• Uses a “pay as you go” (PAYGO) enforcement scheme that has allowed deficits to soar from $161 billion since the rule was implemented in 2007 to $1.6 trillion this year

Initiated by Early County’s Barton Rice, the program has already delivered 4 truckloads of peanut butter totalling 3 million servings.  To see pictures from the Peanut Commission, click below:

To learn more or to participate in the program, click here.  To learn more about GPC’s efforts, click here.

If you’d like to highlight another Georgian’s efforts in Haiti, click here to contact me.

To learn more about Jack’s efforts and what you can do to help, visit http://kingston.house.gov/haiti

According to the documents obtained by Judicial Watch, the Speaker’s travel tab for the past two years was $2,100,744.59 – $101,429.14 of which was for in-flight expenses, including food and alcohol.

Highlights from Judicial Watch’s study include:

• Speaker Pelosi used Air Force aircraft to travel back to her district at an average cost of $28,210.51 per flight. (NOTE: A quick search shows the most expensive flight currently available from Washington, D.C. to San Francisco for this weekend is $1,064).
• The average cost of a Pelosi-led congressional delegation (CODEL) is $228,563.33.  Of the 103 CODELs Pelosi led over the past two years, 31 trips included members of the Speaker’s family.
• One CODEL travelling from Washington, D.C. through Tel Aviv, Israel to Baghdad, Iraq in May 2008 included members of Congress and their spouses at a cost of $17,931 per hour in air craft alone.  During the trip, lawmakers were treated to Johnny Walker Red scotch, Grey Goose vodka, E&J brandy, Bailey’s Irish Creme, Maker’s Mark whiskey, Courvoisier cognac, Bacardi light rum, Jim Beam whiskey, Beefeaster gin, Dewars scotch, Bombay Saphire gin, Jack Daniels whiskey, Corona beer and several bottles of wine (talk about a party plane…)
• According to a “Memo for Record” from a March 29 - April 7, 2007, CODEL that involved a stop in Israel, “CODEL could only bring Kosher items into the Hotel.  Kosher alcohol for mixing beverages in the Delegation room was purchased on the local economy i.e. Bourbon, Whiskey, Scotch, Vodka, Gin, Triple Sec, Tequila, etc.”
• The Department of Defense advanced a CODEL of 56 members of Congress and staff $60,000 to travel to Louisiana and Mississippi July 19-22, 2008, to “view flood relief advances from Hurricane Katrina.”  The three-day trip cost the U.S. Air Force $65,505.46, exceeding authorized funding by $5,505.46.

SPENDING FREEZE 

OBAMA: “Starting in 2011, we are prepared to freeze government spending for three years. Spending related to our national security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will not be affected. But all other discretionary government programs will. Like any cash-strapped family, we will work within a budget to invest in what we need and sacrifice what we don’t.”

THE FACTS: The anticipated savings from this proposal would amount to less than 1 percent of the deficit - and that’s if the president can persuade Congress to go along.

Obama is a convert to the cause of broad spending freezes. In the presidential campaign, he criticized Republican opponent John McCain for suggesting one. “The problem with a spending freeze is you’re using a hatchet where you need a scalpel,” he said a month before the election. Now, Obama wants domestic spending held steady in most areas where the government can control year-to-year costs. The proposal is similar to McCain’s.

DEFICIT REDUCTION COMMISSION 

OBAMA: “I’ve called for a bipartisan fiscal commission, modeled on a proposal by Republican Judd Gregg and Democrat Kent Conrad. This can’t be one of those Washington gimmicks that lets us pretend we solved a problem. The commission will have to provide a specific set of solutions by a certain deadline. Yesterday, the Senate blocked a bill that would have created this commission. So I will issue an executive order that will allow us to go forward, because I refuse to pass this problem on to another generation of Americans.”

THE FACTS: Any commission that Obama creates would be a weak substitute for what he really wanted - a commission created by Congress that could force lawmakers to consider unpopular remedies to reduce the debt, including curbing politically sensitive entitlements like Social Security and Medicare. That idea crashed in the Senate this week, defeated by equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans. Any commission set up by Obama alone would lack authority to force its recommendations before Congress, and would stand almost no chance of success.

HEALTH CARE REFORM 

OBAMA: Discussing his health care initiative, he said, “Our approach would preserve the right of Americans who have insurance to keep their doctor and their plan.”

THE FACTS: The Democratic legislation now hanging in limbo on Capitol Hill aims to keep people with employer-sponsored coverage - the majority of Americans under age 65 - in the plans they already have. But Obama can’t guarantee people won’t see higher rates or fewer benefits in their existing plans. Because of elements such as new taxes on insurance companies, insurers could change what they offer or how much it costs. Moreover, Democrats have proposed a series of changes to the Medicare program for people 65 and older that would certainly pinch benefits enjoyed by some seniors. The Congressional Budget Office has predicted cuts for those enrolled in private Medicare Advantage plans.

LOBBYING REFORM

OBAMA: The president issued a populist broadside against lobbyists, saying they have “outsized influence” over the government. He said his administration has “excluded lobbyists from policymaking jobs.” He also said it’s time to “require lobbyists to disclose each contact they make on behalf of a client with my administration or Congress” and “to put strict limits on the contributions that lobbyists give to candidates for federal office.”

THE FACTS: Obama has limited the hiring of lobbyists for administration jobs, but the ban isn’t absolute; seven waivers from the ban have been granted to White House officials alone. Getting lobbyists to report every contact they make with the federal government would be difficult at best; Congress would have to change the law, and that’s unlikely to happen. And lobbyists already are subject to strict limits on political giving. Just like every other American, they’re limited to giving $2,400 per election to federal candidates, with an overall ceiling of $115,500 every two years.

JOBS CREATED BY THE STIMULUS

OBAMA: “Because of the steps we took, there are about 2 million Americans working right now who would otherwise be unemployed. … And we are on track to add another one and a half million jobs to this total by the end of the year.”

THE FACTS: The success of the Obama-pushed economic stimulus that Congress approved early last year has been an ongoing point of contention. In December, the administration reported that recipients of direct assistance from the government created or saved about 650,000 jobs. The number was based on self-reporting by recipients and some of the calculations were shown to be in error.

The Congressional Budget Office has been much more guarded than Obama in characterizing the success of the stimulus plan. In November, it reported that the stimulus increased the number of people employed by between 600,000 and 1.6 million “compared with what those values would have been otherwise.” It said the ranges “reflect the uncertainty of such estimates.” And it added, “It is impossible to determine how many of the reported jobs would have existed in the absence of the stimulus package.”

TRANSPARENCY 

OBAMA: He called for action by the White House and Congress “to do our work openly, and to give our people the government they deserve.”

THE FACTS: Obama skipped past a broken promise from his campaign - to have the negotiations for health care legislation broadcast on C-SPAN “so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents, and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies.” Instead, Democrats in the White House and Congress have conducted the usual private negotiations, making multibillion-dollar deals with hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and other stakeholders behind closed doors. Nor has Obama lived up consistently to his pledge to ensure that legislation is posted online for five days before it’s acted upon.

ARMS DEAL WITH RUSSIA

OBAMA: “The United States and Russia are completing negotiations on the farthest-reaching arms control treaty in nearly two decades.”

THE FACTS: Despite insisting early last year that they would complete the negotiations in time to avoid expiration of the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in early December, the U.S. and Russia failed to do so. And while officials say they think a deal on a new treaty is within reach, there has been no breakthrough. A new round of talks is set to start Monday. One important sticking point: disagreement over including missile defense issues in a new accord. If completed, the new deal may arguably be the farthest-reaching arms control treaty since the original 1991 agreement. An interim deal reached in 2002 did not include its own rules on verifying nuclear reductions.

SUCCESS OF DRONE ATTACKS

OBAMA: Drawing on classified information, he claimed more success than his predecessor at killing terrorists: “And in the last year, hundreds of al-Qaida’s fighters and affiliates, including many senior leaders, have been captured or killed - far more than in 2008.”

THE FACTS: It is an impossible claim to verify. Neither the Bush nor the Obama administration has published enemy body counts, particularly those targeted by armed drones in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region. The pace of drone attacks has increased dramatically in the last 18 months, according to congressional officials briefed on the secret program.

On January 26, 2010, the Congressional Budget Office revealed that this failure to create jobs has raised the law’s price tag from the original $787 billion to $862 billion – an increase of $75 billion. 

The reason? Higher than expected unemployment and greater payouts of unemployment benefits, among other causes. 

January 26, 2010 Congressional Budget Office Analysis:

• “When ARRA was being considered, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimated that it would increase budget deficits by a total of $787 billion between fiscal years 2009 and 2019.” (page 95)
• “CBO’s current projection of ARRA’s budgetary impact over the 2009–2019 period—a total increase in deficits of $862 billion—is about $75 billion greater than the agency originally estimated.” (page 98)
• “Although total spending from ARRA in 2009 was roughly in line with CBO’s estimate, the cost of some individual components varied from the amounts initially anticipated. Most significantly, outlays for additional unemployment compensation were about $10 billion higher than CBO originally estimated, because the unemployment rate was higher than anticipated and people continued to collect benefits for a longer period of time.” (page 97)

Translation:

“The economic stimulus bill’s price tag has risen to $862 billion, the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday — a $75 billion jump that’s a result in part to the fact that, despite the spending, joblessness has risen and the government is paying out more than expected on unemployment benefits.” (Washington Times, “Stimulus Price Tag Soars as Jobless Rate Rises,” January 27, 2010)

Courtesy House Ways & Means Republicans

With unemployment at 10 percent and the Obama Administration reeling from the public distaste for its fiscally irresponsible policies, the President may propose some kind of temporary tax subsidy for companies that hire new employees or increase work hours according to press reports.  This is not, however, the first time this idea has been considered or even tried.  While Members may applaud the President’s admission that lowering taxes is the best way to spur growth, some Members may believe that a permanent cut in tax rates would spur growth in the long-term and avoid the potential pitfalls created by temporary wage subsidies.

Background

In 1977, the Carter Administration signed the New Jobs Tax Credit (NJTC), one of four programs of the 1977 economic stimulus package, into law.  The NJCT provided federal wage subsidies for two years, from 1977-1978, to companies that hired new workers.  During the two years of the program, one-in-three new jobs received the tax credit at an estimated cost of $4 billion annually.  Despite the high number of credit recipients, the actual impact of the NJCT has been the topic of contentious debate.  During that period the unemployment rate dropped by 1.5 percent.  However, the decline in unemployment was short-lived and the NJTC ultimately failed to curb unemployment in the long run.  Two years later, in 1979, the unemployment rate began to increase rapidly (perhaps as a result of the loss of federally subsidized jobs).  Emil Sunley, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax Analysis at the Carter Administration’s Treasury Department said in 1980 that, “The impact of the credit on jobs was slight.”  Likewise, Howard Gleckman of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center said of a similar subsidy proposed last year, “tax credits for hiring new workers promise to be an administrative nightmare and won’t create many new jobs.”

The Carter Credit Revisited 

According to one estimate from the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, creating an equivalent program to the 1977 NJTC in today’s dollars would create a subsidy of a little over $7,000 per job and cost $26 billion.  While no official legislation has been drafted, there are a number of possible indications of what a tax credit proposal might look like.  During the debate on the Democrat “stimulus” bill last year, the President proposed a $3,000-per-job tax credit.  However, it was reported that Congressional Democrats persuaded Obama to shelve the idea because they feared that companies would abuse the tax credit to receive the benefit without increasing employment. 

Issues of Concern

A number of arguments against the bill have been raised, including:

Market Distortion:  The program may only move up the timeline for demand for labor.  The subsidy could have the effect of compelling companies to hire massive amounts of employees during the program, and either fire those employees after the program expires or freeze hiring, which could make the long-term economic outlook much worse.

Who Qualifies?:  There are administrative questions as to how to measure who receives tax credit (i.e., what constitutes new or incremental employment) and how it is distributed.  Some have suggested that businesses could easily game the system to receive a benefit without actually increasing employment.  For instance, without proper guidelines and oversight, an employer could fire and hire the small employee as a new worker or split one position into two.  And the program would be administered by the same Administration that has had abandoned its confusing and misleading stimulus methodology of jobs “saved or created.”

Not Long-Term, Pro-Growth:  Unlike many of the platforms in the Republican “stimulus” alternative, this sort of jobs tax credit is a temporary wage subsidy and not a true drop in the federal tax burden.  Many Members may believe that long-term tax relief (such as lowering tax rates) is a more effective way to spur long-term economic growth and employment.

Corporate Welfare:  The plan provides billions of dollars in new taxpayer subsidies to private businesses at a time of record deficit spending and when the public is weary of federal subsidies to private entities.

Below are excerpts from tonight’s Republican Address to the Nation, to be delivered by Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell following President Obama’s State of the Union Address:

JOBS: “Good government policy should spur economic growth, and strengthen the private sector’s ability to create new jobs. We must enact policies that promote entrepreneurship and innovation, so America can better compete with the world. What government should not do is pile on more taxation, regulation, and litigation that kill jobs and hurt the middle class.”

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SPENDING: “The amount of this debt is on pace to double in five years, and triple in ten.  The federal debt is already over $100,000 per household. This is simply unsustainable.  The President’s partial freeze on discretionary spending is a laudable step, but a small one. The circumstances of our time demand that we reconsider and restore the proper, limited role of government at every level.” 

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HEALTHCARE: “All Americans agree, we need a health care system that is affordable, accessible, and high quality.  But most Americans do not want to turn over the best medical care system in the world to the federal government.”

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ENERGY: “Advances in technology can unleash more natural gas, nuclear, wind, coal, and alternative energy to lower your utility bills. Here in Virginia, we have the opportunity to be the first state on the East Coast to explore for and produce oil and natural gas offshore.”

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EDUCATION: “The President and I agree on expanding the number of high-quality charter schools, and rewarding teachers for excellent performance. More school choices for parents and students mean more accountability and greater achievement.  A child’s educational opportunity should be determined by her intellect and work ethic, not by her zip code.”

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NATIONAL DEFENSE:  “We applaud President Obama’s decision to deploy 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. We agree that victory there is a national security imperative.  But we have serious concerns over recent steps the Administration has taken regarding suspected terrorists.”

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THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT: “Here at home government must help foster a society in which all our people can use their God-given talents in liberty to pursue the American Dream. Republicans know that government cannot guarantee individual outcomes, but we strongly believe that it must guarantee equality of opportunity for all. That opportunity exists best in a democracy which promotes free enterprise, economic growth, strong families, and individual achievement.”

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OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT: “Top-down one-size fits all decision making should not replace the personal choices of free people in a free market, nor undermine the proper role of state and local governments in our system of federalism. As our Founders clearly stated, and we Governors understand, government closest to the people governs best.”

Under current statute (2 USC 441e) – not changed by Citizens United – a foreign national may not:

1. Directly or indirectly contribute to a candidate or party, or
2. Pay for a broadcast, cable or satellite communication which refers to a federal candidate in the period before an election (“electioneering communications”)

Under current FEC regulation (11 CFR 110.20(i)) – not changed by Citizens United – a foreign national may not:

• Direct, control, or indirectly participate in the decision-making process of any corporation, labor union, or political committee in their election-related activities

In both cases, the term “foreign national” includes a foreign government, foreign political party, an individual who is not a U.S. citizen, or a corporation of other organization organized under the laws of a foreign country or with its principal place of business in a foreign country.

These prohibitions (except the one on electioneering communications) apply not only to federal elections but also to state and local elections.

According to the figures released today, the government will run a deficit this year of $1.3 trillion.  The second highest annual deficit since the end of WWII (second only to last year).

The report notes that, “if legislation is enacted in the next several months that either boosts spending or reduces revenues, the 2010 deficit could equal or exceed last year’s shortfall.” (NOTE: The Senate is currently debating another ’stimulus’ totaling $80 billion).

For the remainder of the next ten years (the yard stick by which spending is measured in Washington), current law will add $6 trillion to the national debt.

To make things worse, the report admits that it’s looking at things through rose colored glasses saying, “CBO’s baseline projections understate the budget deficits that would arise under many observers’ interpretation of current policy.

To watch the segment, click below:

For more about Jack’s efforts on Haiti and what you can do, visit http://kingston.house.gov/haiti

“Where American citizens are in peril, our government has a duty to ensure that every option and resource has been exhausted in attempting to rescue them,” Congressman Kingston said.  “I appreciate and commend the hard work done by those on the ground and know that they are doing all they can.  It would be a mistake, though, to transition into recovery mode before we are sure we have gotten everyone out safely.”

In a speech on the House floor and a letter drafted by Congressman Kingston and signed by Congressmen Tom Rooney (R-FL) and John Mica (R-FL), the legislators urge the President to continue the search and rescue effort until no possibility of survival exists.

The letter is driven by their experience with a search and rescue effort at the Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince.  At the location two First District residents, Courtney Hayes of Douglas and David Apperson of Adel, remain unaccounted for.

In addition to continuing the search and rescue effort, the legislators urge President Obama to establish a clear and appropriate protocol for identifying remains and bringing them back to the United States.

For more information on Congressman Kingston’s efforts and what you can do to help, visit http://kingston.house.gov/haiti

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TEXT OF LETTER (copy here):

President Barack H. Obama
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama:

At 4:00pm yesterday, members of Congress conducted a conference call with officials from the U.S Embassy in Haiti, Department of State, Fairfax Search & Rescue, CDC, FEMA and family members of those missing in the Hotel Montana.  This conference call was beneficial to the families, and we appreciate and thank those who participated. 

On behalf of the families impacted by the devastating earthquake in Haiti, we strongly urge you to continue search and rescue efforts in Haiti.  In discussions with officials at the Department of State, we understand that the decision to change focus from search and rescue to search and recovery will be made by the Haitian government in coordination with the assisting nations.  We ask that U.S. government officials involved in these discussions advocate for continuing search and rescue efforts until the possibility of survival no longer exists.

We are concerned that adequate protocols for identifying and repatriating remains have not yet been developed.  The families have endured enough pain and suffering.  We ask that your administration do everything within its power to ensure that the remains of Americans lost in this tragic disaster are properly identified and returned to loved ones with the dignity and expediency that they deserve.

Sincerely,

/s/                                                  /s/                                              /s/

Jack Kingston                               Tom Rooney                              John Mica
Member of Congress                    Member of Congress                  Member of Congress

“To put it simply, Georgia can’t afford Pelosi’s plan for health care,” said Congressman Kingston. “As legislators meet to make tough decisions in order to meet the current shortfall, the unfunded mandates will bankrupt our already struggling state budget. I wholeheartedly endorse this effort to protect Georgians from this dangerous plan and commend all those involved for their leadership.”

said Congressman Kingston.The effort is led in the State House by Representative Calvin Hill (R-Canton) and in the State Senate by Senators Judson Hill (R-Marietta), Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock), Ralph Hudgens (R-Hull), Lee Hawkins (R-Gainesville), Jim Butterworth (R-Cornelia), and John Douglas (R-Social Circle).

If enacted, the legislation would propose an amendment to Georgia’s Constitution so as to prevent a mandate on any individual, employer or health care provider to participate in any health care system. It would also protect the rights of individuals and employers to pay directly for lawful health care services without penalties or fines.

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TEXT OF LETTER:
The debate in Washington concerning the proposed government takeover of health care is in full gear, as President Obama met with the Democratic Caucus Thursday evening in hopes of pushing through this damaging legislation. I remain extraordinarily concerned about the proposals’ impact on Georgia, which is why I was pleased to learn of the movement underway in the General Assembly to exempt Georgia from mandates that are included in the most recent version of the health care reform legislation. I commend your efforts and strongly support their enactment.

As you may know, the bills currently under consideration would put untenable strains on the State of Georgia. For example:

The one-size-fits all approach to the health insurance “exchange” will impose an inflexible, burdensome, and bureaucratic system upon states instead of allowing the state legislature to determine what is best for Georgians.
The vast expansion of Medicaid would require states to pick up a portion of the cost of the additional enrollment of 15-20 million individuals. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), this represents at least a $25 billion unfunded mandate upon states and territories. As 20 Governors pointed out in their letter to Congressional leadership, budgetary shortfalls have already required 30 states to cut education funding, 29 states to cut corrections funding, and 28 states to cut Medicaid funding. These proposed health care bills will force fiscally-strained states to cut even more vital services.

Both the Senate and House bills are funded with newly created taxes. As states struggle to fulfill the unfunded mandates pressed upon them by the proposed legislation they will have little choice but to also raise taxes on their citizens.

The real problem is the cost of healthcare; however, both the CBO and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services admit this legislation will do nothing to decrease the overall costs of healthcare.

As you well know, we cannot continue to print or borrow money indefinitely like some people in Washington seem to believe. Some in Congress have conveniently skimmed over the fiscal impact this legislation will have on the states. I urge you to continue your fight opposing this legislation in the General Assembly as I will be doing in the United States House of Representatives.
Thank you for your continued leadership on this matter and please let me know if I can be of any service to you.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As relief efforts continue on the island nation of Haiti which was struck this week by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake, Congressman Jack Kingston (R-GA) has created a web page on which he will compile resources for those impacted by the disaster or those who wish to help.

“No one person and no one nation can cope with a tragedy such as this,” Congressman Kingston said.  “My office stands ready to assist those affected as well as those who want to help.  Our thoughts and prayers will remain with all those involved throughout the recovery.”

On the website, which can be accessed at http://kingston.house.gov/haiti, information will be available to assist those who want to locate loved ones, those interested in donating goods or services, and information on how Congressman Kingston can help those affected.

Americans trying to locate family members in Haiti are encouraged to contact the State Department at (888) 407-4747.

At present, Congressman Kingston’s office is engaged in five active cases regarding those stranded.  Anyone who needs to contact Congressman Kingston’s office after hours may do so by calling (202) 821-2923 or (229) 412-2675.