With the U.S. national debt at $13 trillion and increasing by
more than $3 million every minute, I fear our freedom is at risk.
While neither political party can boast of demonstrating fiscal
restraint recently, the Democrats’ tax, spend, and borrow policies
are robbing future generations of the freedom and opportunity we
enjoy today.
Over the past two years, Washington has seized every opportunity
to increase spending, increase taxes, and, as a result, increase
uncertainty in the private sector. Washington’s legislative agenda
has increased the financial burden on job creators, causing
individuals and families to feel the pain as well. With
unemployment looming near 10 percent, small businesses are
struggling to make payroll, and families are tightening their belts
to pay their mortgages, electric bills, and medical bills.
The big-government stimulus forced through by Democrats last
year cost the American tax-payers more than $1 trillion, with the
promise that unemployment would remain below 8 percent. Instead,
more than 3 million individuals lost their jobs, the deficit rose
to a record-high $1.6 trillion, and three out of four Americans now
believe that their hard-earned tax dollars were wasted. To make
matters worse, Democrats wasted little time before pushing through
an unaffordable and unconstitutional takeover of our nation’s
health care system.
In the few short months since the bill became law, the estimated
costs of the new health care mandates have increased by a
staggering $115 billion. ObamaCare not only robs patients of the
freedom to make their own health care decisions, but it also takes
away more economic freedom by forcing families and small businesses
to bear a weighty economic burden. An overwhelming majority (90
percent) of employers believe health care reform will increase
their organization’s health care benefit costs. Eighty percent of
those businesses plan to pass the increased costs from the law on
to their employees through higher premiums. Despite the fact that
most Americans opposed a government takeover of health care,
individuals will now be forced to pay for products and services
they do not want and cannot afford.
Unfortunately, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Leader Harry Reid have
several more items left in their overreaching agenda. Their cap and
trade and financial regulatory reform proposals will put millions
of Americans out of work, further increase federal spending,
increase the debt, and give more control of the private sector to
the government.
In order to preserve their personal freedoms, the American
people must demand fiscal discipline from Washington. The most
basic step toward fiscal responsibility is balancing the books. I
introduced a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution
that would ensure the federal government does not spend more than
it takes in. If American families overspend or hit hard times, they
have to adjust — Congress should be expected to do the same. After
decades of deficit spending, it’s time to make balancing our
budgets the rule — not the exception.
The Declaration of Independence acknowledges that each
individual is endowed with the right to “life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness.” These basic rights start with allowing
individuals, families, and businesses to keep more of the money
they earn. We can achieve this by shifting Washington’s focus from
empowering bureaucrats to empowering individuals — giving folks
the freedom to choose how and when to spend their resources. Rather
than squeezing every last penny out of the pockets of families and
small businesses, my balanced budget amendment would require all
surplus revenue at the end of the fiscal year to be returned to
American taxpayers.
I am confident that restoring fiscal discipline to the federal
budget will restore and retain freedom for individuals, families,
and job creators. However, the American people can not sit idly by
and allow Washington to continue to spend their hard-earned money.
If Americans want to ensure their liberty is preserved, they have
to demand change. The good news is “we the people” have the
ultimate power to affect the policies that come out of
Washington.
