Only in Washington Would a Spending Freeze Mean a Spending Increase

Last month, we all watched as President Obama delivered the State of the Union address.  During his speech, the President announced plans for a spending freeze and discussed the need to rein in Washington's out-of-controlled spending spree.  While I rarely agree with the President's proposals, I do agree that we must get America's fiscal house in order.

The President had an opportunity to do just that when he released his budget for Fiscal Year 2011.  However, the rhetoric from the President's speech does not match his 2011 budget.

The President calls for an increase in spending of 5.7 percent for the current budget year and tacks on an additional three percent on top of that in 2011.  This equates to a budget of $3.83 trillion.

In addition, the President is now calling on Congress to immediately pass an additional $100 billion in stimulus in order to create jobs and get our economy back on track.  This is on top of the $787 billion Democrats spent last year in order to keep unemployment under eight percent.  Yet today, the current unemployment rate stands just above 10 percent for Georgia.

This additional spending will increase our current budget deficit to $1.56 trillion, the largest in our great history as a Nation.  A history of overcoming the most difficult of days, not as a government, but as a free people.  

Democrats in Washington are bound and determined to try spending their way out of this recession.  Nearly a trillion dollars later, their plans didn't create the jobs as promised and their budget does nothing to address Congress' out-of-control tax, spend and borrow mentality that now plagues Washington.  

Unfortunately for the taxpayer, they are the ones left holding the bill.

I'm running for Congress because enough is enough.  We must significantly reduce our spending and address these enormous budget deficits that Washington has become so efficient in producing.  In the coming weeks, I will begin to highlight the Right Solutions to reduce Washington’' wasteful spending and get our nation's checkbook back to being balanced.  

We must focus on the serious economic issues that our country now faces - not with more government spending, but with less.  Not with a more empowered government, but rather an empowered people.  That's what we are doing here in Georgia with the Jobs, Opportunity and Business Success Act of 2010, which I introduced last month.  And that's what we need to be doing in Washington.

I'm optimistic about our future.  We will make it through these challenging days, we always have... because we are Americans!