Issue Position: Government Spending and Waste

Issue Position

Cut Spending, Cut Government Waste

The big-spending policies supported by Congressman Dave Loebsack have put us on a dangerous path to tripling our national debt due to Wall Street bailouts, a failed trillion dollar stimulus and runaway spending.

While both Republicans and Democrats are responsible for years of past budget deficits, together, we must be the solution for future generations who will inherit this massive legacy of debt. We need to enact a balanced budget amendment, afford the President line-item veto authority, cut spending and root out well known and documented waste in entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid which add up to tens of billions of dollars every single year.

Unfortunately, Wall Street and auto bailouts have rewarded failure and set a new expectation that taxpayers will always be a safety net for high-risk gambles. I oppose that philosophy, and recognize that Congress must enact important new regulatory reforms to prevent big banks and investment firms from having the ability to again bring our financial system to its knees.

However, the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill perpetuates the bailout mentality and fails to address one of the main culprits of the 2008 downturn - the need to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which ultimately could costs taxpayers up to $1 trillion. I believe the TARP bailout money currently being repaid by the banks must go directly to paying down the hundreds of billions of dollars in debt taxpayers incurred to save them, and not used for new government spending or programs which will only worsen our debt standing.

Finally, Congress must have leaders willing to oppose the current earmark process, and provide for a system that embraces competitive bidding for local projects based on merit, not on political clout. Such a process would significantly reduce the number of wasteful projects and corruption.

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