These are difficult times for Ohio families who are dealing with rising prices, high unemployment and a federal government that is more focused on spending, taxing and borrowing than on free-market policies that create new jobs.
In their Pledge to America, Republicans vowed to "make Congress do more with less by significantly reducing its budget," and that's exactly what they've done. In one of the first votes of the 112th Congress, John and his fellow House Republicans took the first step toward cutting government spending back to pre-"stimulus," pre-bailout levels by cutting Congress' own budget.
Since then, Republicans in Congress have achieved the most significant spending reductions in modern history -- more significant than Ronald Reagan and more significant than Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich. In fact, total federal spending has gone down for two years in a row for the first time since the Korean War.
But we've still got a long way to go.
John knows if we're going to get control of the true drivers of our debt, we have to address entitlements; the "Pledge to America" says Republicans "will make the decisions that are necessary to protect our entitlement programs for today's seniors and future generations. That means requiring a full accounting of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, setting benchmarks for these programs and reviewing them regularly, and preventing the expansion of unfunded liabilities."