ConservativeHome's Platform

39 GOP House freshmen: We are making the tough decisions necessary to ensure that we remain the greatest and most prosperous nation in the world - it's time for the Senate to join us

Rich Nugent (R-Fla.), Raúl Labrador (R-Idaho), Austin Scott (R-Ga.), Bill Flores (R-Texas), Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.), Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio), Rob Woodall (R-Ga.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Tim Griffin (R-Ark.), Andy Harris (R-Md.), Jeff Landry (R-La.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Chris Gibson (R-N.Y.), Robert Hurt (R-Va.), Nan Hayworth (R-N.Y.), Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.), Blake Farenthold (R-Texas), Martha Roby (R-Ala.), Sean Duffy (R-Wis.), Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), Ann Marie Buerkle (R-N.Y.), Allen West (R-Fla.), Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), Scott Rigell (R-Va.), Joe Walsh (R-Ill.), Randy Hultgren (R-Ill.), Steve Pearce (R-N.M.), Frank Guinta (R-N.H.), Jeff Denham (R-Calif.), Diane Black (R-Tenn.), Kristi Noem (R-S.D.), Reid Ribble (R-Wis.), Sandy Adams (R-Fla.), Steve Womack (R-Ark.) and Steve Stivers (R-Ohio).

Just over a week ago, the creditworthiness of our country was officially called into question, for the first time since the United States’ “full faith and credit” was established in 1790.

Over the last few months, the House and the Senate have received the same dire warnings from Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and the other ratings agencies.

The House led by crafting solutions to our debt problem. Months ago, the House passed a budget that reduces short-term deficits by more than $4.4 trillion and addresses the unsustainable, long-term structural deficits that threaten this nation.

Just a few weeks ago, the House passed a bipartisan bill, “Cut, Cap and Balance,” that could have cut federal spending by $111 billion next year, capped future expenditures and required passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution.

In doing so, the House twice met the requirements that Standard & Poor’s laid out to avoid a downgrade.

The Senate, on the other hand, did nothing. So far this year, the Senate has failed to adopt a budget or pass “Cut, Cap and Balance.”

In fact, it has been more than 850 days since the Senate passed a budget. Given the fiscal crisis we are facing as a nation, the Senate’s failure to act is unacceptable — both to our creditors and to all Americans, who must ultimately shoulder the burden of paying our debts.

Keep reading at Politico...

Rep. Tim Scott: Pivoting to jobs, Mr. President? Start by not killing them in my district

Congressman Tim Scott is a freshman Republican serving South Carolina's first congressional district.

Since the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decided to sue the Boeing Co. for opening a new assembly line in my hometown of North Charleston, S.C., countless people have approached me regarding the situation. I want to share three numbers that go a long way toward showing what is threatening jobs - not just in South Carolina, but across our country.

c $60.7 million: The president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) stated in May 2009, “We spent a fortune to elect Barack Obama - $60.7 million to be exact - and we’re proud of it.”

c 6.9 percent: The percentage of our nation’s private-sector work force that belonged to a union in 2010.

c 11,000: The number of direct and indirect jobs the presidentially appointed NLRB is threatening to kill by suing Boeing in a misguided attempt to protect Big Labor.

If you are like me, you look at the numbers above and shake your head. Despite dwindling numbers, Big Labor drives a significant portion of work-force politics and policy decisions in our nation. Labor leaders are able to do so through a well-honed system of influencing workers and requiring many workers to accept membership in a union as a condition of employment, with fees ranging up to $800 annually. This amounts to more than $8 billion in membership dues annually in the private sector alone. Yet only 10 percent of current union employees voted to unionize in their workplace.

Keep reading at the Washington Times...

Rep. Raúl Labrador: Why a balanced budget amendment is necessary to save our nation

Congressman Rep. Raúl Labrador is the U.S. Representative for Idaho's 1st congressional district.

As a Congressman, I witness a seemingly endless stream of special interest groups seeking funding for their pet programs and I listen to testimony from countless bureaucrats whose only goal seems to be seeking a larger budget.  Spending by the federal government is absolutely out of control, and it has been for a long time.  I have arrived at the same conclusion that the majority of Americans have: the time for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution is now. 

Congress and the federal bureaucracy cannot be trusted to show fiscal restraint on their own and say no to reckless spending of taxpayer dollars. A balanced budget amendment to the Constitution would legally force the federal government to spend no more than the amount of money that it brings in. 

Forty-nine states abide by a balanced budget requirement – including Idaho- and many families balance their checkbooks regularly. As individuals, we understand that we have a limited ability to borrow and spend money, it's time the federal government followed suit.  While any bills this Congress passes which cut spending can be changed by this or future Congresses, a constitutional amendment is permanent.

Our country currently owes $14.3 trillion in debt and borrows roughly 40 cents of every dollar we spend.  Admiral Mike Mullen—the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff—has called our debt “the single greatest threat to national security.”

Our government simply cannot control itself when it comes to spending. Members of both political parties have a history of not being able to say no. Since President Obama took office in January of 2009, the national debt has increased by $3.7 trillion. For reference, it took the United States from its founding in 1776 to 1992 to accumulate the same amount of debt that this administration has accumulated in only two and a half years. And previous Congresses and Presidents have not been much better.  Under President George W. Bush spending increased by nearly 33% - adding nearly $5 trillion in debt.

Raising taxes is not the solution -particularly at a time with such high unemployment. Higher taxes on anyone would simply damage the economy more and hurt individuals and employers and wouldn’t balance the budget at all.  In order to balance the budget, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that tax rates would have to more than double and some estimate that a 60-percent across-the-board tax increase would be necessary. I do not believe many families or business could endure a 60-percent increase. Even if you taxed the top 10-percent of income earners at 100-percent, you could not come close to balancing the budget. Spending is the problem.

This past November, voters made it clear that they were tired of business as usual in Washington and voted for a change in direction. They elected folks like me who ran on a mantle of reform and they expect us to fulfill those promises.  They wanted their voices to be heard. I came here to change the way Washington works and I won’t back down from that challenge.

I believe failing to raise the debt ceiling carries consequences, but I believe that failing to permanently change the structure of the way the government budgets and spends taxpayer money carries much more dire consequences.  Credit rating agency Moody’s has stated that even if the debt ceiling is raised, it could lower the U.S. credit rating if we do not find a way to improve our overall debt situation. 

A balanced budget amendment is neither a gimmick nor a new concept. Congress nearly passed one in the 1990s with then-Senator Joe Biden supporting it as well as Democrat Whip Steny Hoyer. In 1982 Ronald Reagan also called for one, “most Americans understand the need for a balanced budget, and most Americans have seen how difficult it is for the Congress to withstand the pressures for more spending. This amendment will force government to stay within the limit of its revenues. Government will have to do what each of us does with our own family budgets – spend no more than we can afford.”

I understand there are concerns with both the procedural hurdles to passing a balanced budget amendment and the impact of such a move on our fiscal outlook, but I wholeheartedly reject the notion of the passage of a balanced budget amendment as a gimmick.  In fact, it may be the only way to save our Country from fiscal ruin.

 

Sen. Jim DeMint: If conservatives want to continue our successes in 2012, it is essential we understand why we were so successful in 2010

Sen. Jim DeMint is a Republican from South Carolina. 

The 2006 and 2008 elections were disastrous for Republicans. When Republicans controlled Washington, spending and earmarks exploded. Democrats were more than happy to help us expand federal control of health care and education, increase the national debt exponentially and ignore our job-killing tax code.

We didn't keep our promises to reform Medicare, Social Security or reduce the size of the federal government. You could accuse the Republican majority of many things, but certainly not of being too conservative!

When I expressed my disappointment and frustration with the way Republicans in the Senate were doing business, one senior member of my party's leadership told me, "Jim, you can't change the Senate."

That's when I realized the people in the Senate were not going to change, and it was time to change the people serving in the Senate.

Keep reading at the Washington Examiner...

Senators Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee: We know what needs to be done; we just need the will to act

Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee, both Republicans, are Utah’s two U.S. senators.

It’s been called the most preventable disaster in American history.

The coming debt crisis is so predictable it’s difficult to find a single economist, expert, politician or American taxpayer who doesn’t warn of the consequences of spending and borrowing ourselves into oblivion.

A recent publication from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office called America’s debt problem “daunting.” The ratio of debt to gross domestic product has just crossed 90 percent, a threshold linked to lower-than-average economic growth. If left unchecked, our ballooning debt will almost certainly lead to the country’s long-term economic decline.

Fortunately, the solution is basic and one that is followed by most responsible state and local governments, families and business owners. When faced with tough times they know they must eliminate spending on the things that aren’t absolutely essential. Then they make a budget for the things they need and have the discipline to stay within that budget. Finally, they stop borrowing and spend no more than they take in.

Keep reading at The Salt Lake Tribune...

Rep. Rob Woodall: By continuing to punish wealth, growth and productivity, we are handicapping ourselves in the global marketplace - it's time to eliminate hidden taxes

Rep. Rob Woodall is a freshman Republican from Georgia and serves on the House Budget Committee.

I’ve been in Congress for a little more than six months now, and not a single day has gone by without a call for more jobs, more innovation and faster economic recovery. We wonder why foreign investment continues to stay overseas and our own American companies are flocking to foreign shores as fast as they can. All the while, our corporate tax rate remains the highest in the industrialized world, our federal government continues to punish productivity, and roughly $431 billion will be wasted this year trying to comply with our baffling tax code. We continue to ask the questions, but the answer is simple: The United States is no longer the best place in the world to do business.

The Department of Labor reported recently that for the fourth month in a row, the unemployment rate has risen. That rate stands at 9.2 percent, and in June, employers hired the fewest number of workers in nine months. Rampant federal spending and borrowing has increased our national debt by more than $3 trillion since President Obama took office, and as a result, foreign and domestic investors are financing food stamps, unemployment benefits and debt rather than private-sector innovation and jobs. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that for the first time in decades, America is on net losing, not attracting, growth capital. While these numbers are troubling, they cast a sanitized, clinical perspective on the pain and uncertainty that many American families are feeling as the result of a sad reality: Job creators are simply taking their ball and going home.

Keep reading at the Washington Times...

Rep. Robert Dold: The importance of free trade

Robert J. Dold is the US Representative serving the 10th Congressional District of Illinois.

Nations commonly enter into free trade agreements to increase economic prosperity, lower the cost of goods, better allocate resources, access new markets, and encourage innovation. Since World War II, America has consistently sought and received these benefits by liberalizing its trade policy and by becoming a party to a number of bi-lateral and multi-lateral trade agreements across the globe. Currently, our participation in these trade agreements significantly increases trade and investment that benefits America and other member nations. Right now, the U.S. has free trade agreements pending with Korea, Colombia, and Panama.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that every $1 billion increase in exports directly results in 6,250 manufacturing jobs created here in America. Expanding free markets brings benefits to consumers in the form of lower prices, greater variety, and better quality. It also encourages companies to innovate and specialize.  Extending these three trade agreements will bring new economic opportunities to the United States.  

According to the President’s analysis, if the U.S. were to sign these three agreements it would create 250,000 U.S. jobs without any government spending.  Compared to most countries in the world, the United States has relatively low tariffs on imported goods, so free trade agreements remove the higher barriers of our trade partners.  Lowering these artificial barriers to goods and services will help all businesses, big or small, and create new jobs.  Every day that the U.S. delays signing these agreements is yet another day of higher tariffs imposed on our country. These tariffs amount to nothing more than a tax on US consumers.  Removing such artificial barriers and tariffs has so far increased the purchasing power of American families by $10,000.  With rising gas and food prices, this would be a welcome relief for the family budget. 

Just last week, a free trade agreement between the European Union and Korea went into effect.  This is putting American companies at an extreme disadvantage.  At this very moment, Europe is establishing new business ties in Korea, meanwhile we sit idly by and continue to pay steep tariffs. The European Union is now benefiting from lower trade barriers, increased export opportunities, and job creation.  The U.S. needs to stop the delay and sign these pending trade agreements.  America only falls behind when other nations pass free trade agreements.

There is no question that passing these pending free trade agreements helps every American family and creates new opportunities for growth for American businesses. Given this winning combination, it is unacceptable for Washington to play political games with these free trade agreements and delay their passage.

Rep. Kristi Noem: Read our founding documents, again

Rep. Kristi Noem is South Dakota’s lone U.S. Representative, elected in November 2010.  She serves on the Agriculture, Education and Workforce and Natural Resources Committees.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Pop quiz – is the quotation above from the Declaration of Independence or the U.S. Constitution? Did it take you a moment to remember that the answer was the Declaration of Independence?  When was the last time you read through our nation’s founding documents?  Have you read through them recently with your kids or grandchildren?

If your kids are anything like mine, come July and August they sometimes come into the house saying they’re “bored.”  While I always have a long list of chores around the ranch that need to get done, a different assignment that’s worthwhile is to have them read through the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and then discuss the documents afterward. 

As President Ronald Reagan once said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”

It’s part of our duty as Americans to make sure our children and grandchildren understand and appreciate the nature of the freedoms we enjoy – as well as how they were won through conflict and protected through the formation of a limited government. 

Today there might be things (perhaps many things) in Washington, DC that frustrate you.  I know there are things that frustrate me every day.  Regardless of who’s up and who’s down in the daily skirmishes in Washington, it would be extremely unfortunate for the future of our country if we do not engender in our children a love for our country and the freedoms and liberties our founding fathers fought so bravely to carve out.

So please take a few moments this summer with the children in your life and read those old documents.  Try to make them come alive.  In doing so, you will be helping to preserve the great experiment that is America for another generation.

Sen. John Boozman: E-verify is commonsense technology that allows us to hold employers accountable

John Boozman is a Republican Senator from Arkansas.

Unemployed Arkansans are struggling to find jobs to support their families and put food on the table. The unemployment level nationwide continues to increase and because of uncertainties in regulations from federal agencies, our job creators are their halting hiring practices. In this economic environment I believe we must take steps to provide hardworking Americans with job opportunities and American workers must be given an advantage over illegal immigrants in the workplace.

I believe one of the best ways to ensure this is done is by making it mandatory for employers to verify the work eligibility of new hires. This can be accomplished through E-verify, a web-based tool that allows employers to confirm eligibility of a job candidate by their name and Social Security number.

E-verify has a proven track record of combating the hiring of illegal immigrants and is currently used by nearly 270,000 employers nationwide. I recently cosponsored legislation to make E-verify permanent and mandatory for all employers. This is commonsense technology that allows us to hold employers accountable and helps them abide by the law.

The legislation gives businesses one year to comply with the electronic verification program and also increases the penalties for employers who do not use the system or knowingly hire undocumented workers. 

We have an immigration crisis on our hands, and I believe the E-verify system is a way to start working toward a solution to the problem that transcends into other issues our government faces today including our struggling economy and our education system.  Our nation admits one million immigrants each year, but those who arrive illegally to our nation have broken the law and must be held accountable. So to, should the employers who knowingly hire them. When federal laws go unenforced, it leaves cash-strapped local and state governments to fend for themselves and find resources they do not have to absorb millions of undocumented workers.

While the current administration is encouraging amnesty to illegal immigrants, I believe those who come into our nation illegally should not be rewarded for their actions. I will continue to vote against President Obama’s amnesty proposals, as I did as a member of the House of Representatives.

I believe firmer E-verify rules can make an impact on the illegal immigrants who cross our borders undetected, and prevent millions of illegal immigrants from infringing upon every legal citizen’s right to pursue the American dream.

With millions unemployed in the United States, I believe it is vital that we give employers the right tools to ensure they aren’t hiring illegal workers so they may contribute to improving the job market.

Rep. Tim Huelskamp: America’s Spending on Trial

Congressman Tim Huelskamp represents the First Congressional District of Kansas.  He serves on the House Budget, Agriculture, and Veterans’ Affairs Committees.  He is in his freshman term, and prior to coming to Washington, he served in the Kansas State Senate for 14 years.  Follow Congressman Huelskamp on Facebook, Twitter (@conghuelskamp), YouTube, and his webpage.

If this were a legal case, lawyers would be delighted in the amount of evidence that keeps appearing.

Not only have three major credit rating institutions threatened to downgrade the United States' credit ratings as a result of the nation's debt crisis, but now the top evaluator of Washington's spending patterns has weighed in. It does not bode well for Defendant Washington.

This week, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its latest long-term budget outlook. It enhanced existing evidence that already has said America cannot afford unchecked government spending. Notably, this CBO report affirmed what many private organizations have been saying for months and what ordinary Americans have known for years: America is about to reach a debt breaking point. The day of reckoning will be here soon if immediate action is not taken. 

CBO says that if the current trajectory prevails, in the course of only one decade, publicly-held debt will exceed the entire size of America’s economy.  That’s right – Washington’s reckless debt habit will be larger than the measured value of the work of every American for an entire year.  This is entirely unacceptable and unsustainable, and one that scares job creators.  American businesses and workers know this – when Washington runs out of foreign creditors to bail us out, they will come knocking on our door for massive tax increases.

Unlike Greece, which is facing considerable economic turmoil, America should not have to learn a lesson the hard way. There is still time to right the ship of state – and sail America back into prosperous times. It is for that reason that this week I signed a pledge to "Cut, Cap, and Balance" as a condition to raising the debt limit. This is a pledge to the people of Kansas who sent me here to restore fiscal sanity to Washington. 

This pledge has been also signed by several other members of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate. Signatories pledge to their constituents that they will not raise the debt limit unless deficits are cut, future spending is capped, and future budgets are balanced. These actions are reasonable – and frankly it is what ordinary families, successful businesses, and responsible states do in America every day. 

This pledge to Kansans – and ultimately all Americans – recognizes that evidence is mounting against Washington's reckless behavior.  And without adoption of cut, cap and balance and soon inside the Beltway, I fear that America’s spending will be put on trial.  And the verdict then will not be in doubt – our politicians will have failed our country.