This week, President Obama gave his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress. It was encouraging to hear the President focus on the pressing need to get our fiscal house in order. Where there is room for consensus on these important issues that affect job creation, I look forward to working with President Obama and my colleagues to put those policies into place that will help move the economy forward for all Fifth District Virginians.
It was disappointing, however, to hear the President renew his commitment to pursue more stimulus-style government spending.
The President’s call for more spending ignores the message sent by voters on Election Day, and it stands in stark contrast to the immediate actions taken by the House that seek to create jobs and repair our economic outlook by putting an end to Washington’s reckless spending spree.
As the failed trillion dollar stimulus proved, increased government spending did not create the millions of jobs promised and only added to our record-breaking deficits and over $14 trillion in debt. The new projection that this year’s deficit will reach nearly $1.5 million only reinforces the need to cut up Washington’s credit cards once and for all.
That is why I have been proud to support many measures that have come before the House that will rein in out of control government spending and help put Central and Southside Virginia on a true path towards a long-lasting economy recovery.
Those measures include voting to cut non-security discretionary government spending back to pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels and voting to repeal the budget-busting government takeover of health care, cutting $2.6 trillion over ten years and reducing the deficit by $700 billion. The House has also voted to cut Congressional budgets, to end the wasteful mandatory printing of bills, and to end the taxpayer funding of presidential election campaigns and party conventions, saving taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
Additionally, I have signed on as an original co-sponsor to a balanced budget amendment that would force Washington to learn to live within its means so we don’t saddle future generations with even more insurmountable, crippling debt.
While this is only the beginning and there are many tough decisions ahead, supporting legislation that helps create jobs and grow our economy has been a top priority for me in this first month, and it will continue to be throughout my two years as your representative in Congress.
If you need any additional information on these or any other issues, please visit my website at hurt.house.gov or call my Washington office: (202) 225-4711, Charlottesville office: (434) 973-9631, or Danville office: (434) 791-2596.
Robert Hurt represents the Fifth District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
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