This week, the House passed H.R. 982, the Improving Government Accountability Act, which would limit the President’s authority to manage the inspectors general as a part of the Executive Branch. The House also passed H.R. 2470, the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Expansion and Enforcement Act, to expand U.S. criminal law to all federal contactors working in an area where Armed Forces are conducting operations. Finally, the House passed H.R. 3648, a bill to exclude debt forgiveness on principal residences from gross income. Unfortunately, this bill also contained a tax increase that primarily affects middle-income taxpayers.

Budget Gimmicks

When Democrats took control of Congress this year, they enacted a rule which requires any new spending authorized by Congress to be offset by a corresponding increase in revenue. By implementing this system, referred to as “Pay As You Go” (PAYGO), Democrats claimed they would be the party of fiscal responsibility. Of course, Republicans warned that this would be the vehicle by which Democrats would raise taxes once in power. After all, Democrats do not want to make cuts in spending, and they have continually rejected proposals to increase revenue by allowing energy production on federal lands. Therefore, tax increases appeared to be the inevitable method by which Democrats would be able to offset the new spending authorized by Congress. In part, that was correct - Democrats have proposed over $100 billion in new taxes since taking power in January. However, what some of us did not foresee were the budget gimmicks Democrats would use to make it so their new spending would be offset on paper, but in reality will result in billions of dollars in shortfalls. For example, H.R. 2419, the Farm Bill, directs the Congressional Budget Office to ignore its own rules in estimating costs to show an additional $400 million. H.R. 3221, an energy bill, achieves PAYGO “compliance” by recycling fees already used in the Farm Bill. H.R. 2776, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, masks over $10 billion in costs by requiring Congress to pass a second bill if an attack actually occurs. Democrats would then designate this second bill as an “emergency,” so they do not have to offset the costs. These budget gimmicks will, if enacted, undo all the economic progress which has greatly reduced our deficit in recent years. The fact that all this is being done under the guise of “fiscal responsibility” is an insult to the intelligence of the American people.

The Truth About SCHIP

On Wednesday, the President vetoed H.R. 986, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Reauthorization Act. The President’s veto was heavily criticized everywhere from outside the White House, where parents enlisted young children to carry signs in support of the bill, to the Oprah Winfrey Show, where “experts” such as Michael Moore appeared to discuss our nation’s system of health care. I supported the President’s veto, and I will vote to sustain that veto when it comes to the floor of the House. While there are plenty of reasons to oppose this bill, here are three which are paramount: the SCHIP bill provides benefits for illegal immigrants by substantially weakening a requirement that persons applying for services show proof of citizenship or nationality; the bill continues to use taxpayer dollars to fund SCHIP for adults through 2012, taking away limited resources from needy children – the original intent of the program when it was created by Republicans in 1997; and the bill fails to focus on low-income children and instead grandfathers states like New York, which provide SCHIP benefits to children with middle and upper-income families who earn up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level (currently $83,000). Not surprisingly, this information was not shared at the protests or on Oprah.

Quote of the Week

“I feel strongly that we’re destroying the viability of our fiscal system when we don’t raise taxes...” – Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), discussing the Democrats’ plan to impose a $150 billion “war surtax” on American taxpayers. 10/4/2007.