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Friday, December 30, 2011

And the Spending Continues . . .

Obama to ask for debt limit hike: Treasury official Reuters

U.S. President Barack Obama talks to the press after signing into law a two-month payroll tax cut extension at the White House in Washington December 23, 2011. REUTERS/Larry Downing

In spite of all the rhetoric we hear from our elected officials about government reining in Congressional spending, the spending continues.  There's no stopping place when it comes to spending money we don't have.  Of course, I don't have a difficult time understanding President Obama and the Democratic Congress spending money like crazy.  You expect that from a Democrat party that's socialistic in their thinking.  That's no surprise. What's surprising (which shouldn't be surprising) are the Republican leadership in the House who are supposed to rein in government spending.  Even the Tea Party Republicans haven't made a dent in this area.  The Republican leadership and those Tea Party Republicans have been worthless since they gained control of Congress this past year.  House Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor have done nothing but cave into President Obama making compromises.  They caved in when it came to raising the debt ceiling this past August and they caved in concerning the latest payroll tax budget last week.  There hasn't been any type of cuts which have been significant.  If any cuts have been made, they're only cuts to the rate of the growth of spending.  But there haven't been any significant cuts.  There's no excuse for this.  The House has jursidiction when it comes to spending bills.  The House has the authority to cut off funding for unconstitutional spending such as Obamacare, for example.  Yet, there hasn't been any effort to do so.  Congress held a symbolic vote in January to repeal Obamacare.  However, the Republicans knew that there wasn't a Republican majority in the Senate to repeal Obamacare.  Why doesn't the House defund Obamacare and any type of spending that's unconstitutional?  I believe it's because it's not part of the agenda.  The Republicans love to claim to be the party of fiscal control.  They love the issue when it comes to campaigning for the next election.  Consequently, they're aren't about solving problems.  They just go along with the flow.  The Republican party, including the Tea Party freshmen for the most part, are content with the growth of government.  That's tragic but true.

According to Reuters, the White House plans to ask Congress by the end of this week for an increase in the government's debt ceiling to allow the United States to pay its bills on time.  The approval is expected to go through without a challenge, given the fact that Congress is in recess until January.  The debt is projected to fall within $100 billion of the current tap by December 30, when the United States has $82 billion in interest on its debt and payments on its Social Security coming due.  President Obama is expected to ask for authority to increase the borrowing limit by $1.2 trillion, part of the spending authority that was negotiated between Congress and the White House this summer.

This is a joke.  The Republicans should say "no" without any reservation.  They won't because they don't care about greatly reducing spending.  I can say that with confidence because the Republicans in the House won't use the power they have to defund wasteful spending.  I know that Obamacare can't be repealed in the 112th Congress, but it could've already been defunded.  Why hasn't it been defunded?  All I can say it's not part of the agenda.  The Republicans are phony.  They're part of the problem.  That's why I say there's no difference between the two parties on a national level.  The Republicans aren't going to make the tough decision to slash spending, even when the House has the power to control the spending bills.  Instead of another debt ceiling increase, the House automatically should defund any spending that's unconstitional and not needful.  There's so much spending that can be eliminated it's not even funny.  Why don't talk show hosts Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity call out the Republicans in the House for not defunding Obamacare and other spending that's unconstitutional?  Probably because the Republican politicians won't came back on their programs if they're asked questions of accountability.  Hannity and Limbaugh are Republican hacks.  I'm not interested in electing Republicans that refuse to tackle the nations' problems.  If they're content with the growth of big government, they need to be voted out.  We need to vote out a whole array of Republicans in the 2012 elections.  John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Kevin McCarthy, and a host of House Republicans need to be voted out next year.  They're worthless and they're perpetuating the problem.  Any Republican in the Senate who's up for re-election next year needs to be voted out in the Republican primary.  I have no patience for Republicans that refuse to do what is necessary to halt and eliminate the size of government. 

Click on the above link from Reuters to read the full story. 

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