Working to restore
fiscal sanity
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July 19, 2011 |
Since the 2010 elections the U.S. House of
Representatives has been busy cutting spending
and enacting the measures that voters sent us to
Washington to accomplish. One after another
appropriations bills have moved through the
House of Representatives – while the President
has asked for increased funding for these
government programs – I have worked to instead
cut spending across the board.
Although the Senate has yet to enact the will of
the people and pass these bills, our work to
restore fiscal sanity continues.
Recently the Government Accountability Office
released a report showing just how inefficiently
our federal government is operating. The report
highlights countless programs and departments
that are both duplicative and unproductive; the
report was unable to even interpret why some
programs existed.
Agency by agency, I have worked with my
colleagues to force the government to do more
with less. For example, to combat wasteful
spending at the Department of Education, I have
cosponsored H.R. 1891 which would repeal
ineffective or unnecessary education programs in
order to restore the focus of Federal programs
on quality elementary and secondary education
programs for disadvantaged students.
The Department of Education is a prime example
of the out-of-touch mentality within Washington
Bureaucrats - the average salary of a Department
of Education employee is over $100,000 per year
– more than twice what most classroom teachers
make. I believe that states and local school
boards should decide education spending and
policies, not bureaucrats in Washington.
Unfortunately, these budget cuts alone will not
solve our budget crisis. As you can see in the
graph, entitlements make up a significant
portion of our total debt. While it is important
to eliminate wasteful and duplicative programs
within government agencies, doing so will not
solve our budget crisis. We must look at
strengthening entitlement programs to control
the out-of-control costs associated with
Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security if we
truly want to tackle our spending.
The federal government’s wild and excessive
spending has jeopardized the future of these
programs. We must take action now to protect and
preserve these important programs for today’s
retirees and future generations who will depend
on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. The
most dangerous plan that these programs face is
to keep the status quo - which is guaranteed to
fail. The President’s own National Commission on
Fiscal Responsibility and Reform has even said
that we must take steps to ensure the long-term
viability of these programs.
To ensure that we stop spending beyond our
means, I have supported the passage of a
balanced budget amendment. I believe that the
federal government should live by the same rules
that we do in Idaho, to ensure that in the
future we don’t have to agonize about the debt
limit or borrowing money.
Recently, while in Boise, the Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullen, told a large
crowd that among all the threats to our national
security, our debt is the most grave. I want
assure you that I share his concern and
understand the severity of our country’s fiscal
problems and the tough decisions that must be
made. I have taken every decision for funding
for government programs extremely serious,
keeping in mind what is in the best interest of
Idahoans as well as the country we will leave to
our future generations. |
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U.S. Congressman Raul Labrador |
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