Word is, the congressional supercommittee may fail in its quest for $1.5 trillion dollars in federal spending cuts. I don’t know why we are so pessimistic. After all, the task before the Committee of Twelve is actually miniscule. By statute, it must reduce $1.5 trillion in existing and projected deficits over the next 10 years. Accounting for inflation, this means the supercommittee is looking to save $150 billion per year. With inflation, it’s more like $130 billion per year – and the “savings” are non-binding projected savings based on non-binding projected spending!
Twelve esteemed congressmen and women hard at work. Twelve 8-year-olds would be more efficient, more successful, and more honest.
The underperforming supercommittee was made possible in part by Virginia’s Sixth District Republican incumbent, who voted for several trillions more in federal borrowing last July. So-called conservative Bob Goodlatte not only voted for every debt ceiling increase George W. Bush wanted, he did the same when Obama asked! This time, Goodlatte traded his vote to gain the Speaker’s support for Goodlatte’s version of a balanced budget amendment. I guess that makes it all right.
Assuming Congress ever passed such an amendment, expecting three-fourths of state legislatures to support a law that will increase taxation on state citizens while eliminating billions of dollars federal outlays and lending to state treasuries is sheer insanity. Let me rephrase that. It’s just nuts!
But I’m ahead of myself, in calling it a no-go for ratification. The House and Senate still have to accept Goodlatte’s watered-down amendment. And why shouldn’t they? It’s patently easy to violate, will launch a plethora of nice new taxes, offers extremely timid spending reductions and has no federal spending cap. Even if it passed and was ratified, this toothless, tax-hungry proposal simply won’t balance anything. Ever.
Which may be the plan after all. Goodlatte and his cronies would like nothing better than for the whole country to watch the congressional shell game, and forget theirworries. Be happy, America! We promise, really we do! If only we had a ratified constitutional amendment in, say, 2017 – we’ll all grow backbones, gain character, practice ethics, become moral statesmen, stop deficit spending, not bankrupt you, and make serfs of your children, and expatriots of your grandchildren.
The federal government grows under Republicans and Democrats alike because congressmen lie to their constituents, and to themselves. Incidentally, Goodlatte, like many other incumbents, pledged never to vote for increased taxes, courtesy of Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform pledge.
Now, he proudly stands for bold borrowing, bold spending and bold taxation – something he himself acknowledges will not only be possible, but unavoidable.
Yes, Virginia, Congress has been lying for a long, longtime. The Sixth District incumbent in the spotlight today is pushing bad legislation that will force him to publicly break past pledges as a conservative, as a statesman and as a tax-opposer. But don’t be too upset. It’s just politics as usual.
Karen Kwiatkowski is a farmer in Shenandoah County and is challenging Bob Goodlatte in the GOP primary for the Virginia Sixth District congressional seat. More about her campaign online at www.karenkforcongress.com.
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