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The House took an historic vote Friday to cut federal spending immediately, reduce the rate of growth of government by nearly a trillion dollars over the next ten years, and guarantee a vote on a balanced budget amendment.
While the bill wasn’t perfect, and not the one I would have written, it is a balanced approach to reducing federal government spending while ensuring that the United States is able to meet its debt obligations and our promises to seniors, military members and veterans.
Just two years ago this vote to cut a trillion dollars from the future growth of government spending would have been unthinkable.
Flash back to early 2009: President Obama had just been elected overwhelmingly, even winning Florida’s electoral votes. Democrats increased their hold on the House and Senate, getting a filibuster proof majority in the Senate. And Florida’s 24th District was held by a Democrat for the first time.
As you know all too well, that new Democrat majority went on an unprecedented spending spree, passing a trillion dollar stimulus spending bill, a government takeover of your health care, and even an attempt to pass a cap and trade national energy tax. They managed to do all this while failing to pass a budget for the first time since 1974 in the House, and the Senate has now failed to pass a budget of their own for more than 815 days.
Today the House is controlled by the largest Republican majority in decades, and has forced the Senate Democrats and the president to agree to real spending cuts, with no new tax increases.
You might ask, what happened to bring us to this point? You are the answer. Your support of campaigns like mine in 2010 allowed us to defeat dozens of incumbent Democrats like Suzanne Kosmas, and elect a Republican majority focused on putting people back to work, improving the economy, and reducing our deficit and debt.
Our recent successes have changed the tone in Washington, D.C. from one where trillion dollar stimulus bills and government takeovers were the norm to one where Congress now asks whether a program is working and if it should be funded with your tax dollars.
While the debt bill passed by the House today wasn’t perfect, it does advance our shared principles of limited government, an opportunity for a balanced budget, immediate reductions in the deficit, and a real effort to pay down our nation’s debt. But the question remains, what can we do to achieve even more in the future?
The answer is simple. We need new representation in the Senate and the White House. Senator Bill Nelson and President Barack Obama have fought time and again to oppose responsible spending reductions, have voiced support for a debt limit increase without true spending reforms, and have continued to push for tax increases instead of eliminating waste, fraud and abuse in government.
If you are like me and believe that our nation can and must do better to help the private sector put hard working Americans back into jobs, and that spending trillions on “stimulus” bills and bailouts is the wrong way to go, then I invite you to get involved and work to bring new representation to the Senate and the Presidency.
Again, thank you for helping to make a difference in our nation’s government. Without your support I would not be in Congress, fighting on your behalf to create jobs, improve our economy, and do the work you sent me here to do.
If you would like to get involved in my reelection campaign, I invite you to join me in fighting for strong conservative principles by clicking here.