Debt ceiling negotiations are intensifying and the rhetoric is heating up. And President
Obama’s insistence that we raise taxes to solve our spending problem has paralyzed the
debate. It is clear that President Obama has neither the will nor the ideas to lead in this debate
or lead this country.
If we continue down the path set forward by President Obama, we will be sentencing
our children and grandchildren to permanent economic malaise while at the same time
condemning this current generation to the same fate. Congress must step in and lead where he
has failed.
Our challenges are well known. The federal government is spending money at breakneck speed
with complete disregard to the consequences. Since 1970, federal spending has increased by
299% while the median household income has increased by just 27%. Government’s budget is
growing far more rapidly - especially in the past decade - than household budgets. It’s simply
not sustainable.
Regardless of whether or not Congress decides to raise our nation’s debt ceiling, spending
must be brought under control. If Congress decides to use the debt ceiling as leverage to force
change on unwilling liberals, they must: 1) significantly cut current spending; 2) restrict future
spending; and 3) fix the budget process.
Currently, there is only one plan on the table that meets this test and that is the plan embodied
in the Cut, Cap and Balance Pledge. This is an example of a plan that matches the historical
moment that we currently face as a nation.
Liberals fear any change that empowers individuals and frees America’s entrepreneurial
spirit, and they will stop at nothing to obstruct our efforts to save the American dream for our
children and grandchildren.
We’re seeing it already. President Obama and Democrats are afraid to put a real plan on
the table. One Democrat source said laying their ideas on the table “could be a simply awful
decision – and one with significant ramifications. If done wrong, it could hand the GOP a piñata
for them to whack Democrats.” Their plan deserves to be whacked: increase spending to
create jobs and raise taxes on the real job creators.
Of course, liberals thrive on uncertainty. Uncertainty allows government to fill a void, and
occasionally it incites a panic that forces lawmakers to make bad decisions with your tax dollars.
This uncertainty, though, is also one of the leading reasons employers are not hiring.