Each week we read news and press releases from Washington. We must reluctantly conclude from our state’s standpoint, that Congressman Steve Pearce is all alone. Though also financially literate, for reasons known only to them, Pearce’s New Mexico colleagues in the House and Senate are supportive of the status quo. We refer to Senator’s Tom Udall and Jeff Bingaman as well as Representative’s Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Lujan. Each of these men somehow finds comfort in remaining completely loyal to the budgetary leadership of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. And Reid and Pelosi both continue to have the audacity to characterize the wholly inadequate efforts of House GOP leaders to pare back federal spending, as draconian.
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| Steve Pearce |
Here is the stark and dark reality of the numbers. America is borrowing $4.1 billion dollars each day. This includes weekdays, weekends, and holidays. We borrow this amount each day come rain or shine. How can this be? And what does New Mexico’s delegation in Washington have to say about this practice? Not much. Bingaman, Udall, Lujan, and Heinrich don’t seem to even bother with paying a little “lip service” to the dangers of this reckless borrowing pace. Instead, each of these politicians trumpets support for a policy that would reduce America’s $4 billion in daily borrowing by get this…….. only $16 million dollars per day. This Democratic proposal would reduce overall U.S. borrowing from $4.1 billion to $4.09 billion per day (I am rounding). The GOP leadership in the U.S. House is also pathetic. Republicans only claim to fame is to be “not quite as pathetic” as their Democratic counterparts.
The Boehner-led GOP House budget proposes spending cuts that will reduce daily borrowing by $160 million per day. This might sound significant, because it is ten times as much as is proposed by the Democrats. But when you net this out, Republicans are only willing to reduce daily U.S. borrowing to $3.95 billion per day.
Let’s forget for the moment the fact that Senator's Udall, Bingaman and Representative's Heinrich, and Lujan are screaming bloody murder over the House GOP budget proposal, because they think these minuscule cuts are “too deep.” Just for fun (or nausea) let us say that somehow a Washington miracle occurs, the GOP House Budget Bill actually gets passed, and President Obama signs it. Under this scenario, in 2011 we can expect the federal government to borrow $12,969 for every taxpaying citizen in New Mexico. What has just been described as a miracle actually represents the LOWEST amount of daily/annual borrowing being proposed by either party leadership team in Washington. This sorry outcome is a "best case scenario."
These are the numbers. And with this information, we are forced to reluctantly conclude that scarcely two months after the GOP took over the U.S. House of Representatives, the reality of widespread cowardice is once again sinking in on those of us who can operate a budget calculator. There are two very reckless and irresponsible political parties in Washington. And only a political revolution against the budgetary irresponsibilities of BOTH parties will cause change. Why do we think Congressman Steve Pearce is all alone in the New Mexico delegation? At least Pearce voted against the ongoing nonsense known as a “Continuing Budget Resolution.” Like his colleagues he knows piling another $12,969 in debt on each New Mexico taxpayer this year alone is an atrocious thing to do. Yet unlike Pearce, all of his colleagues in the New Mexico delegation in Washington vote regularly for budgetary atrocities. This means Pearce is all alone in trying to do something.
What will New Mexicans do about this? The majority of state voters seem to be content to remain on snooze control. Anyone with a lick of sense needs to come out of their denial coma and ask two simple questions…….How could our state have possibly designated the likes of Jeff Bingaman, Tom Udall, Martin Heinrich, or Ben Ray Lujan as our leaders? And how long will it take the Republicans and Democrats who are still in control in Washington to bankrupt this nation? Only time will tell. The leaders in both parties in Washington are continuing accept failure in such a way that it will only accelerate the process of self-destruction for this nation.
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