By Congressman Randy Neugebauer
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. The U.S. reached another big milestone last week but this one is not something to celebrate. The Department of Treasury announced that the federal deficit for 2010 hit $1 trillion dollars during the month of June. This is just the 2nd year in history that the deficit has reached such a staggering amount -- last year was the 1st.
The worst part is that there are still three months to go
in the fiscal year.
How much will the deficit increase by the time September 30th rolls around? According to this chart from
The Heritage Foundation the grand total for 2010 could exceed $1.5 trillion.
The American people know that when you are spending $1 trillion more than youre bringing in the imbalance needs to be addressed by stopping the spending. But President Obama and the Democratic Leadership in Congress just dont seem to get it.
Theyve taken this nation on an
unprecedented spending spree that has hurt economic growth and slowed job creation. The pace at which the Democrats spend taxpayer money is so out-of-control that our children and grandchildren will be paying the bill for many years to come.
We have a trillion dollar deficit but Congress doesnt have a budget or any plan to address spending.
Running deficits of $1 trillion dollars or more is completely unsustainable. Instead we need common-sense solutions that provide families and small businesses here in the 19th Congressional District certainty.
It can be done by implementing a tough balanced budget eliminating funding for expired programs and taking a good look at how we can better spend taxpayer money.
The decisions wont be easy but by committing to fiscal restraint and holding Washington responsible we can empower the American people to put our country back on track.
Side Effects of Financial Reform"
On Wednesday President Obama will sign the Democrats financial reform" bill into law. While we all can agree changes are needed after the financial crisis weve experienced the truth of the matter is that this bill falls short of any reform at all.
Rather than taking steps to prevent future financial crises this new law includes a permanent bailout authority that continues to leave taxpayers on the hook. It will allow the federal government to continue picking
winners and losers and decide which companies are just too big to fail."
This legislation gives more power to the very same regulators who fell short on the job the first time around and asks us to trust that the outcome will be different next time. These regulators will now write more than 200 regulations to determine how this new law will work.
For the average consumer the new law assumes the government knows best about your financial choices. Rather than moving toward an economy and financial system in which the government makes more of the choices I believe we need to keep those choices in the hands of individuals.
As Deputy Ranking Member of the Financial Services Committee I supported the real financial reform my colleagues and I introduced more than a year ago that would protect the taxpayers support a strong economy through restored market discipline demand accountability from regulators and end bailouts.
Todays legislation doesnt fix the problems in our financial system. It only creates new ones and makes the next bailout more expensive.
Question of the Week"
Last week the federal deficit for 2010 hit $1 trillion. Should Congress pass a $34 billion extension of unemployment benefits that is unpaid for?
