Boehner Answers Community's Questions
Each month, in this column, I invite residents of the Eighth District to submit questions to me via e-mail at AskBoehner@mail.house.gov. Here are a few of the more prominent questions I've received recently:
"I heard that Congress voted to cut funding for programs that help students and the poor. Why did Congress do this?"
The answer is easy: it didn't. The Deficit Reduction Act is aimed at slowing the growth of federal spending over the next five years by $40 billion, or 1/10 of one percent. It does this by rooting out the waste and inefficiency in the federal bureaucracy -- not by cutting funding from programs that help the poor. "Cut" implies that there will be less money in the future than there is now -- that simply isn't true.
The Deficit Reduction Act actually manages to direct MORE resources to student loan programs and programs that help lower-income families with high heating bills. How does it do this? In short, by making common sense reforms to entitlement programs, many of which are outdated, inefficient, and excessively costly. It strengthens and simplifies student loan programs by reducing lender subsidies; rebuilds community first responder capabilities by freeing up vital spectrum airwaves; protects workers' pensions by placing the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) on a more solid financial foundation and protecting taxpayers from the cost of a massive bailout; and more. Only in Washington can an increase in spending be labeled a "cut."
We also need a little bit of perspective. As I mentioned above, this bill only slows the growth of spending by a fraction of a percent. That's a little like trying to stop a train by throwing spitballs at it.
We need to find a real way to cut federal spending - live within our means - and reform programs like Social Security and Medicare so that our children and grandchildren aren't stuck with a huge bill.
"If we're in so much debt, why did Congress extend the reckless tax cuts?"
Simple: tax cuts are what spur economic growth and increase revenues to the federal government. Our economy has experienced ten straight quarters of growth above 3 percent and has created more than 4 million new jobs since May 2003. Similarly, revenue to the federal government increased in 2005 by nearly 15 percent over 2004. If that's what "reckless" tax cuts do, I think we need more of them.
The President's Advisory Panel on Tax Reform correctly pointed out that lower tax rates promote long-run economic growth and job creation, and better encourage work, saving, and investment. High tax rates do exactly the opposite.
Extending the tax cuts of the last few years was common sense. But now that we've done that, the hard work of reining in federal spending has to come next. The Deficit Reduction Act mentioned above is a good first step. But more needs to be done.
Many people in Washington want to pretend there's no problem. They would rather demagogue and delay fixing the inevitable fiscal disaster that awaits our children and grandchildren. But we can't afford to do that. America's biggest entitlement programs are in dire need of reform, and you can be sure that I'll be working hard this year to make it happen.
I look forward to answering more of your questions next month. E-mail those you'd like to see answered in this column to me at AskBoehner@mail.house.gov.
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