October 19th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today urged Representative Marion Berry to “reject a $1 trillion omnibus spending package planned for the lame duck session, and to instead return spending levels to 2008, pre-bailout, pre-‘stimulus’ levels.”
“While members of Congress, including Representative Berry keep saying ‘yes’ to more unsustainable spending, ‘yes’ to more earmarks, and ‘yes’ to more special favors for special interests, the American people are saying enough is enough,” Wilson said.
Wilson demanded that Rep. Berry “tell voters what his position on this $1 trillion spending bill is — before the election takes place. The American people have a right to know if Representative Berry supports bankrupting the nation further, because the final vote will not be until after the election.”
Congress has failed to pass a budget for the 2011 fiscal year, and the federal government instead is operating on a continuing resolution that expires December 3rd. The lame duck session begins on November 15th.
“After the election, Congress will have about a week to force another trillion dollar spending bill down the throats of the American people. It’s up to Representative Berry to stand in the way, and demand a real budget that finally downsizes this bloated, indefensible budget,” Wilson noted.
“This Congress couldn’t do a budget in one year, now they want to do it in one week. The American people need a real budget process that carefully examines the nation’s priorities, cognizant that there are finite resources to go around. Printing and borrowing another trillion dollars to finance Congress’ spending addiction is not an option,” Wilson said.
For 2010, the budget deficit was over $1.3 trillion, and the national debt has now risen to over $13.6 trillion. The annual budget currently stands at over $3.5 trillion.
“No more trillion dollar spending bills,” Wilson declared. “This is one of the things that has the American people infuriated with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid’s Congress, and why they are angry with Representative Berry.”
House Republicans have proposed a return to 2008 spending levels in their “Pledge to America.” Wilson said that the GOP proposal is “a good start. We need to return to a regular budget that eliminates TARP, ends the GM, Chrysler, Fannie, and Freddie bailouts, and puts the failed ‘stimulus’ out of its misery.”
“At a bare minimum, that is where we must start, but we harbor no illusions. It’s not nearly enough,” Wilson warned, saying the nation was risking defaulting on its debts.
“It is time for Representative Berry to restore fiscal sanity to Washington, before it’s too late. We are facing a likely downgrade of our credit rating, and may ultimately default on our obligations. Representative Berry needs to take a pair of scissors to the budget and finally cut things out that we don’t need,” Wilson explained.
“Barack Obama wants to grow the national debt by $1.06 trillion every year for the next ten years according to his own proposed budget. Only Representative Berry can stop him from bankrupting our great nation,” he added.
Wilson concluded, “The American people cannot afford to find out what happens if Barack Obama is handed another blank check by this Representative Berry.”
Background:
“U.S. Credit Rating Deserves to Be Downgraded,” ALG President Bill Wilson, August 30th, 2010.
“The Futility of Printing Money,” ALG President Bill Wilson, October 7th, 2010.
“The $15 Trillion Debt Cap,” ALG President Bill Wilson, September 19th, 2010.
