House Republicans are stepping up to the plate and asking Americans on Main Street what we need to do to get the economy back on track. On Monday, Members of the Economic Recovery Working Group unveiled a 13-miniute video which takes a look at the debt crisis facing our country, titled “Obama’s Endgame: A Look at the National Debt.”
There’s a real disconnect in Washington these days. I fear, as so many Americans do, that too many representatives in Congress are secluded in Washington, making laws that will fundamentally shift how our economy operates without considering the real-world consequences. Americans are rightly frustrated watching the national debt skyrocket while ordinary Americans are trying to keep their heads above water.
Over 1.3 million Americans have used YouCut, a project aimed at introducing commonsense savings measures, as a platform to tell Washington to stop the out-of-control spending. Folks across America are tightening their budgets and finding ways to save in this tough economy. And they’re rightly disgusted by the gross abuse of taxpayer money on pet projects and inefficient federal programs. The President and the Democratic leadership are running out of ways to explain why the government can’t keep its fiscal house in order and they’re hard-pressed to find anyone who believes that growing the national debt by $4.9 billion a day is healthy.
The video raises serious concerns over how Washington’s spending spree will hurt the economy. It’s an in-depth analysis, complete with charts and graphs, showing how specific policies will only continue to perpetuate a culture of irresponsible spending. One of my favorite segments of the video is when my colleague Mr. Paul Ryan from Wisconsin explains–in simple terms–what happens when the foreign governments who hold our debt start to question whether we’re getting our fiscal house in order; inflation will rise and the middle class will be on the hook. These are real, serious concerns that our kids will have to face if we don’t curb out spending habits.
I don’t think that Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid understand that the American people get it. They get that higher taxes on job creators stall hiring. They get that raising the price of energy makes it more expensive to buy groceries. They get that our kids and grandkids will have to someday pay the price for today’s outstanding debt. For some reason the Democrat-controlled Congress doesn’t seem to understand these basic economic tenets.
In an effort to make sure Washington sees what’s happening on Main Street, I’ve launched a “Virtual Economic Listening Tour” designed to provide West Virginians a platform to show Washington what real hard work looks like, how a small business operates and how American entrepreneurialism really works. I hope that these videos and pictures will compliment the work done by House republicans in ensuring that the Congress listens to Americans who are saying loud and clear that growing the debt is hurting them and their families.
House Republicans have brought over $120 billion commonsense savings measures to the floor but Nancy Pelosi has blocked every single measure. We need to stop this partisanship. We can cut spending. We can find outdated and redundant federal programs that do not need additional funding. We can find ridiculous pet programs on which federal dollars do not need to be wasted. We can work toward balancing the federal budget.
I applaud my colleagues in the House for working together toward fiscal responsibility and accountability. It’s time to get our fiscal house in order once and for all.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.