By
David Losey
David Losey
I was doing some research today on moderate politicians when I was swept off on a tangent leading to a serendipitous discovery that raised my blood pressure a few notches. I was comparing Lynn Jenkins' voting record with Dennis Moore's. I was startled to find that she voted with Moore 56% of the time. With a heightened sense of gotcha I looked at how Moran and Tiahrt voted in comparison to Moore. Lo and behold, Moran voted with Moore 52% of the time and Tiahrt 51% of the time. (I am sure that some votes were procedural or routine.) But, now I was hooked! What votes did they agree upon? Make a guess. APPROPRIATIONS BILLS! They voted together ten times to spend more money on routine appropriations! By this time I was furious! Where's the conservative? Which one of Kansas' Congressmen (all who claim to be fiscally conservative) voted against increased spending? Not Tiahrt! Not Moran! Not Jenkins! Not Moore! NOT ONE OF THEM!
Now I am spittin' mad. My blood is boiling. The first bill I looked at in detail was H.R. 915, The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2009. This bill authorizes spending by the FAA for 2010, 2011, and 2012. Department funding increases ranged from 2.5% to 5.3% for 2011 over 2010 and 2.4% to 8.3 % in 2012 over 2011. OMG! Our debt is skyrocketing, the economy is in the toilet, and the tax burden is unsustainable and yet they voted to increase spending at the FAA! They all must be drinking the same kool aide!
OK, OK, maybe this was just an exception. So I looked at a second bill, H.R. 1404, the FLAME Act. This bill reauthorizes catastrophic emergency funds to fight forest fires on federal lands. First it should be understood that other government agencies such as the Department of the Interior, The Department of Defense, etc. already have budgets that include funding for fighting forest fires. This funding, however, is in case the normal agency funding runs out. How much is appropriated in this bill? IT DOESN'T SPECIFY! It is to be no more than the average actual expenditures over the last five. That is unless the department manager specifies in writing that he is going to run out of emergency funds and then additional funding will be made available. This bill puts the tax payers are on the hook for an unspecified amount of money! IS THIS ANY WAY TO DO BUSINESS! I can tell you in nearly twenty years of corporate management that I never had a slush fund available in case I over spent my budgeted amounts! It was made perfectly clear to me that I would live within my budget, period. Upon occasion when I failed to do so, I was severely admonished that if it continued I would be replaced.
I could not stand to look at the details of any other bills. I will send them to anyone who would like to look at them. As for me, enough was enough!
The bottom line is that we have representatives in Congress who claim to be fiscal conservatives but are not! They are going along to preserve their elected positions. They do not care about righting the ship of state. They are not acting to put our economy on sound footing. They will, of course, all be replaced in 2010 with the exception of Jenkins. She should go, too!
You may wonder, is there anyone who has voted to reduce spending? Is there anyone in the House who is a real fiscal conservative? Ron Paul, arch-conservative, is one. He voted with Moore only 38% of the time. He voted “No” on nine of the ten bills and abstained on the other. So it is possible to vote against spending and retain your seat. We need to find some men/women in Kansas who will have the courage to vote to reduce out-of-control spending, restore our country to sound fiscal footing, and not be afraid to be voted out in two years. History tells that if the government will reduce spending and cut taxes the economy will quickly recover. (See the recession of the 1920s and the Kennedy and Reagan tax cuts as examples.)
In light of our current fiscal irresponsibility it is extremely crucial that we elect men/women that understand that continuing to spend like drunken sailors will surely bring about economic collapse.
I believe that we have two candidates running for Congress in Kansas that grasp this fact and can be trusted to vote accordingly. I would ask that you look closely at Craig McPherson in the 3rd District and Jim Anderson in the 4th. Determine for yourselves if they have the courage to stand up and say, "Enough is enough! Stop the nonsense!" I believe they do!
Now I am spittin' mad. My blood is boiling. The first bill I looked at in detail was H.R. 915, The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2009. This bill authorizes spending by the FAA for 2010, 2011, and 2012. Department funding increases ranged from 2.5% to 5.3% for 2011 over 2010 and 2.4% to 8.3 % in 2012 over 2011. OMG! Our debt is skyrocketing, the economy is in the toilet, and the tax burden is unsustainable and yet they voted to increase spending at the FAA! They all must be drinking the same kool aide!
OK, OK, maybe this was just an exception. So I looked at a second bill, H.R. 1404, the FLAME Act. This bill reauthorizes catastrophic emergency funds to fight forest fires on federal lands. First it should be understood that other government agencies such as the Department of the Interior, The Department of Defense, etc. already have budgets that include funding for fighting forest fires. This funding, however, is in case the normal agency funding runs out. How much is appropriated in this bill? IT DOESN'T SPECIFY! It is to be no more than the average actual expenditures over the last five. That is unless the department manager specifies in writing that he is going to run out of emergency funds and then additional funding will be made available. This bill puts the tax payers are on the hook for an unspecified amount of money! IS THIS ANY WAY TO DO BUSINESS! I can tell you in nearly twenty years of corporate management that I never had a slush fund available in case I over spent my budgeted amounts! It was made perfectly clear to me that I would live within my budget, period. Upon occasion when I failed to do so, I was severely admonished that if it continued I would be replaced.
I could not stand to look at the details of any other bills. I will send them to anyone who would like to look at them. As for me, enough was enough!
The bottom line is that we have representatives in Congress who claim to be fiscal conservatives but are not! They are going along to preserve their elected positions. They do not care about righting the ship of state. They are not acting to put our economy on sound footing. They will, of course, all be replaced in 2010 with the exception of Jenkins. She should go, too!
You may wonder, is there anyone who has voted to reduce spending? Is there anyone in the House who is a real fiscal conservative? Ron Paul, arch-conservative, is one. He voted with Moore only 38% of the time. He voted “No” on nine of the ten bills and abstained on the other. So it is possible to vote against spending and retain your seat. We need to find some men/women in Kansas who will have the courage to vote to reduce out-of-control spending, restore our country to sound fiscal footing, and not be afraid to be voted out in two years. History tells that if the government will reduce spending and cut taxes the economy will quickly recover. (See the recession of the 1920s and the Kennedy and Reagan tax cuts as examples.)
In light of our current fiscal irresponsibility it is extremely crucial that we elect men/women that understand that continuing to spend like drunken sailors will surely bring about economic collapse.
I believe that we have two candidates running for Congress in Kansas that grasp this fact and can be trusted to vote accordingly. I would ask that you look closely at Craig McPherson in the 3rd District and Jim Anderson in the 4th. Determine for yourselves if they have the courage to stand up and say, "Enough is enough! Stop the nonsense!" I believe they do!
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