The Baton Rouge Advocate - On Debt Day, Will Trade Hope For Plan
Op-Ed
By Congressman Bill Cassidy
Sunday was Debt Day 2009.
Debt Day marks the date when the federal government begins spending more money than it will take in for the year.
In other words, every dollar spent by the federal government yesterday, today and for the rest of this year is a dollar borrowed from another country and our children and grandchildren.
Because of the explosion in federal spending during the past three months ($1 trillion "stimulus," $400 billion omnibus spending bill, and $350 billion bank bailout), Debt Day occurs three months earlier this year than last.
In November, most Americans cast their votes on the hope that Democrats and Republicans would work together to restore fiscal sanity in the nation's Capitol. As a newly elected congressman, I shared this objective.
Unfortunately, the administration and congressional Democrats have not delivered on that hope. They employed a stunning degree of partisanship on the budget, ramming it through the House without accepting a single Republican amendment or attracting a single Republican vote.
The administration's budget raises taxes by $1.4 trillion, while still doubling the national debt over the next eight years. There was bipartisan opposition to this proposal, with 20 Democrats voting against it.
The alternative Republicans proposed would have balanced the budget by 2012 without raising taxes.
Right now, the debt per American is roughly $35,000. The administration's budget will double that to around $70,000 per person in eight years.
I was heartened to learn this week that the president convened the first Cabinet meeting of his administration to focus on cutting spending at federal agencies.
Then I learned the Cabinet was asked to find a combined $100 million in savings.
$100 million represents 0.0029 percent of this year's federal budget. To put that into perspective, the president's plea is roughly equivalent to asking a family that spends $100,000 a year to save $3.
Asking the Cabinet to cut spending shows us the president has the right intentions and hopes. Hope, however, is not a plan. There must be a definite plan to cut spending and restore fiscal sanity in Washington.
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