In the House version, they did it the way I prefer, as a percentage of GDP, (or) percentage decreases in relation to the size of the economy. The cut portion of that would have cut $111 billion from the baseline increase. Q: If you were on the deficit reduction supercommittee, what are some of the things you would say the federal government just can't do any more?Ī: The way to do this so you could actually solve the problem is a two-step process, and that's why I supported cut, cap and balance. We simply are not seriously addressing the problem. Entitlement mandatory spending will continue to increase, so my guess is next year's budget will still spend more than it did this year. The only thing you can kinda sorta call a cut in this budget deal is we're taking 30 percent of the budget, the discretionary portion, which this year will spend $1.05 trillion and next year will spend $1.043 trillion, so that's a whopping $7 billion cut. Cutting spending is just Washington-speak for limiting the growth of spending. Q: What was your reaction to the bill to raise the debt ceiling?Ī: You can say it's maybe a step in the right direction, that we're not dramatically increasing spending, but we're really not cutting anything. My disappointment is I was hoping that the members on the other side of the aisle would really start acknowledging how serious the situation is and really work in good faith to start fixing the problem, but that simply hasn't happened. I had a pretty realistic view of how entrenched the interests are there. Now that you've been there a while, are you more or less optimistic about the way we run our government?Ī: I can say unequivocally I'm not more optimistic. Q: You were elected as an outsider not poisoned by what's going on in Washington. Following are edited versions of some of his responses: Ron Johnson, a Republican from Oshkosh, met Monday with the Leader-Telegram Editorial Board and fielded questions on several topics.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |