Texas Insider

Congressmcan Randy Neugebauer

As the federal government continues spending at rates far greater than the revenue that is available, it will once again hit the limit on its credit card. If you reach the limit on your credit card, you have to stop spending. But the leadership in Congress doesn’t seem to get it. Spending at the rates we have seen the past two years, using borrowed money, means that Congress has reached the national borrowing limit.  Now the House Leadership is looking at another increase of up to $1.8 trillion in the government’s ability to borrow, bringing the national debt limit to an unprecedented $13.9 trillion.

Let’s not forget that Congress has already increased the debt limit four times, for a total of $2.3 trillion, in the past two years.  In that time frame, the debt limit has gone from $9.8 trillion in September of 2007 to a $12.1 trillion limit in February of 2009.  The federal debt now exceeds $12 trillion, with every man, woman and child in the United States bearing the burden of $39,000 in debt.

Rather than being held accountable for all the spending decisions that have caused the federal government to reach its credit limit four times in the past two years, the leadership plans to attach this $1.8 trillion debt limit increase to the annual Department of Defense funding bill that provides the resources our troops depend on daily for operations both at home and abroad.  Our troops are fighting for our freedom and way of life; they shouldn’t have to come home to an even larger national debt. They are fighting for our freedoms, while Washington is spending it all away.

I fully support our troops and their mission, and I believe the vote on the debt limit needs to be a separate vote. That’s why I authored and introduced H. Res. 949 earlier this month.  This legislation would change the rules in the House so that we have to take a stand-alone vote on debt limit increases and pass such an increase with a 2/3rds vote. Almost 50 of my colleagues in the House have joined me in support of this legislation. By requiring a 2/3rds vote, or a supermajority, to raise the debt limit, we ensure that in the future approving this level of spending, especially over a short period of time, requires bipartisan support.

The American people sent us to Washington to use their money wisely.  Both Republicans and Democrats are to blame for not taking a stronger stand on spending in the past. However, the rate of spending increases over the past two years and the corresponding debt limit increases needed to allow for the borrowing, greatly exceed the rate of growth in prior years.

If the federal government is yet again reaching the debt limit, we need to get out the message that the policies of increased spending have to stop.   Instead of increasing the borrowing limit every time the government has spent too much, we have to stop increasing the spending in the first place.  Unless Congress stops spending money we don’t have, the debt will only continue to rise.

Opposing Permanent Bailouts
Last week, I was disappointed that the House passed H.R. 4173, a nearly 1,300 page bill that will fundamentally remake the U.S. economy.

We can all agree that some changes are needed to ensure that the problems we saw in our financial system the past couple of years do not happen again.  Not only does Chairman Barney Frank’s bill, which the House passed last week, not solve the problems, it also creates new problems by limiting consumer credit options, perpetuating bailouts and harming jobs.

This legislation creates a permanent government bailout fund.  As we have seen with the TARP bailout program enacted last year, bailouts give the government the ability to pick winners and losers.  Those who made poor decisions are not held accountable.
 
I did not come to Congress to expand the role of the federal government, penalizing those who have played by the rules and lived within their means. I worked with my colleagues on the Financial Services Committee to offer a better solution.  Our alternative would have ended taxpayer funded bailouts and prevented the government from picking winners and losers, and helped our financial markets and economy get back in shape. If companies make bad decisions they would fail; if companies make good decisions they would succeed. 

Our alternative would improve protections for consumers without a new government bureaucracy and hold regulators accountable for preventing “too big to fail.”  Rather than more bailouts and more bureaucracy that are in Chairman Barney Frank’s bill, I supported more taxpayer protection and more market discipline in our alternative.

Copenhagen
This week, President Obama and Members of Congress are expected to travel to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. If President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Democrats in Congress have their way and they can convince the Senate to ratify a treaty, the Copenhagen conference will produce mandatory emissions limits that would destroy millions of American jobs, damage our economic competitiveness and succeed in their number one goal, a massive wealth transfer. You may have heard just this morning of a breakdown in the negotiations, all because developing nations are demanding even more of our hard-earned tax dollars. 

Sadly, leaders in both the House and Senate continue to promote bad public policy, like a national energy tax, that will take our economy from bad to worse. This cap-and-tax legislation is currently making its way through the Senate after passing the House of Representatives in June.

Legislation like this is hard to swallow particularly after the recent scandal of “Climategate”. This scandal raises serious questions about the Democrats’ cap-and-tax plan and shows that Speaker Pelosi will stop at nothing to overcome the strong objections of the American people.
 
With national unemployment soaring, working families in the 19th Congressional District deserve better in Washington and in Copenhagen.

“Question of the Week”
Should an increase in the federal debt limit be required to be a stand-alone vote and not attached to other legislation?

Please visit my website to submit your answer to this week’s question.