We all want our government to have fiscal responsibility. But the problem is we elect people who will do one thing that is good for the nation to get re-elected, then another thing that hurts the nation after they get re-elected. Let me give you an example with my former congressman Baron Hill (D). He voted against the bailout in 2008 before his re-election. Here is an something from a email he sent me.
“On Monday, September 29, 2008, I voted against H.R. 3997, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, which was defeated in the House by a vote of 205-228. That same week, the House voted on the Senate's version of the bill. While the majority of the rescue provisions were the same, the Senate had added well over $100 billion in additional spending. That is why I voted against H.R. 1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, when it was brought to the House floor for a vote on Friday, October 3.
Throughout the 110th Congress I have tried to maintain fiscal discipline because I believe excess debt is one of the reasons our country was put in this difficult financial situation. Our national debt now stands at over $10 trillion, and I felt it was fiscally irresponsible to vote for a bill that would unduly burden the American taxpayer. I do not want to set a precedent for the bad actors on Wall Street to fail and expect to be rescued following their poor decisions.”
I was very proud that my Congressmen stood against this bill. I was worried at the time that maybe it was only because he was up for re-election. You see two years before he lost his seat to a Republican, because he was seen as a big spending liberal. Now it looked like he had changed his ways. But after his re-election he voted for the Obama Stimulus Bill. Here is what he told me in an email.
“On February 13, 2009, I voted to approve the conference report of H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The President signed H.R. 1 into law on February 17, 2009. While my fiscal conservative nature gave me pause at spending so much money, I believe the cost of doing nothing would have been far more devastating to our economy….
While I believe it is not the time to be ideologically rigid at the expense of Hoosier families, my support of this stimulus package should not serve as an indication of future fiscal measures that will receive my vote. I am now more than ever committed to making sure Congress returns to long-term fiscal reforms, such as statutory pay-as-you-go budgeting (PAYGO).”
This is the problem with our leaders. They always have an excuse why they abandoned their principles. The Republicans had all kinds of reasons from 2000-2006 and they lost control of Congress in 2006. They spent money like it was going out of style and really never got serious about balancing the budget.
While there are some good people in Congress, most are just there for power and money. It is sad that we can’t just hit the reset button and get all new people. Oh, wait we can. It is called elections every two years. Please don’t forget what your Congressmen and Senators are doing. Hold them accountable and vote them out. We have the power.
