This week, the House passed H.R. 1424, the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act, which broadens the scope of mental health disorders insurers must cover. The House also passed several non-binding resolutions including H.Res. 951, condemning the ongoing Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli civilians.

Another Bad Budget

In the second year of their majority, the Democrat led house has again proposed a budget that significantly raises taxes and increases government spending. The central element of this years tax and spend budget is the elimination of the Bush tax cuts. This would result in the largest tax increase in history – an astonishing $683 billion tax hike that will affect all Americans. Included are an increase in the marginal tax rates, elimination of the child tax credit and the ten percent bracket for lower-income taxpayers, as well as the reinstatement of the marriage penalty and an increased estate tax. To put this into perspective, this tax increase is four times larger than the tax reductions recently included in the stimulus package. It is estimated that on average a Californian will pay $3,300 more in federal taxes as a result of this ill-conceived plan.

This huge tax hike will help pay for a record-setting increase in non-defense discretionary spending. Instead of holding the line on spending to control the national debt, this budget proposes to increase discretionary spending by $82 billion next year. This 8.8 percent increase is more than two times the current rate of inflation, and will drive our nation further into debt. Also missing from this budget are necessary reforms to curtail the exploding unfunded liability of entitlement programs. Without reforms, the unfunded liability for Social Security and Medicare will increase by almost $14 trillion by 2013. After years of warnings and Republican efforts to control this exploding liability, the majority has again ignored this looming crisis. After two consecutive budgets that propose higher taxes and exploding spending, Democrats are proving they are the tax and spend party. It is unfortunate that in showing their cards our nation will slip further away from fiscal responsibility.

Pulling the Plug (Again)

For the eighth time in the last year, the Democrat leadership has disregarded the will of the House and pulled a bill from the floor after it became apparent a bipartisan majority would support a Republican proposal to strengthen the bill. In this case, the Republican motion would have barred sex offenders and murderers from participating in federally-funded national service programs, such as Americorps. These programs frequently place volunteers into underserved areas working with children, the elderly, and in some cases even living with local families. There is no place for dangerous criminals in this program, and yet the Democrat leadership would not let this bill move forward with this provision included.

This action is hardly in line with Speaker Pelosi’s promise to voters that her leadership would provide greater bipartisanship and a more open legislative process. Instead, we have again seen the will of the House hijacked by the Speaker’s insistence on appeasing her far left special interests. Regrettably, this heavy handed action is becoming all too common, as in the last year the Democrat leadership has abruptly pulled two housing bills from the floor after a bipartisan majority supported Republican proposals to protect the Second Amendment, and an important national security bill was pulled when a provision was added that would ensure our intelligence community could conduct surveillance on Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. While the Speaker may continue to thwart the will of a majority of both parties and the American public, Republicans will continue to work to gain bipartisan support on provisions that will improve legislation as it moves through the House.

Quote of the Week

“These amendments universally so far have been ridiculous and have wasted this Committee’s time.” – Rep. Marion Berry (D-AR), describing proposals to avoid cutting the child tax credit in half, limit spending, and prevent the largest tax increase in history.