Posted by
Defend America on Friday, March 05, 2010 3:12:35 PM
Jim Bunning: Why I took a stand
‘If the Senate cannot find $10 billion to pay for a measure we all support, we will never pay for anything.’
By Jim Bunning
I have been serving the citizens of Kentucky for nearly 24 years in Washington. During that time I have been a member of both the House
of Representatives and the United States Senate. I have taken thousands
of votes in relation to spending the taxpayers' money. I will be the
first one to admit that I have cast some bad votes during my tenure,
and I wish I could have some of them back. For too long, both
Republicans and Democrats have treated the taxpayers' money as a slush fund that does not ever end. At some point, the madness has to stop.
Over a month ago, Democrats passed and President Obama signed into
law the "Pay-Go" legislation. It calls on Congress to pay for bills by
not adding to our debt. It sounds like a common sense tool that would
rein in government spending. Unfortunately, Pay-Go is a paper tiger. It
has no teeth. I did not vote for the Democrats' Pay-Go legislation
because I knew it was just a political dog-and-pony show to get some
good press after some political setbacks. Since the Pay-Go rule was
enacted, the national debt has gone up $244,992,297,448.11 (as of
Wednesday, that is).
Why now?
Last week, Majority Leader Harry
Reid, D-Nev., asked to pass a 30-day extensions bill for unemployment
insurance and other federal programs. Earlier in February, those
extensions were included in a broader bipartisan bill that was paid for
but did not meet Sen. Reid's approval, and he nixed the deal. When I
saw the Democrats in Congress were going to vote on the extensions bill
without paying for it and not following their own Pay-Go rules, I said
enough is enough.
Many people asked me, "Why now?" My answer is, "Why not now?"
Why can't a non-controversial measure in the Senate that would help
those in need be paid for? If the Senate cannot find $10 billion to pay
for a measure we all support, we will never pay for anything.
America is under a mountain of debt. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben
Bernanke said in a hearing last month that the United States' debt is
unsustainable. We are on the verge of a tipping point where America's
debt will bring down our economy, and more people will join the
unemployment lines. That is why I used my right as a United States
Senator and objected.
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2010/03/column-why-i-took-a-stand-.html?csp=hf