Knowing what I know thus far about this recent "deal," I'm afraid that if I were the position to vote for or against it, I would not be inclined to support it. This supposed debt-reduction agreement that was arrived at on Sunday leaves allot to be desired, no question about it. Members of Congress, especially those sent there just this past November, must now put their principles above politics and remain firm on the premise that the debt ceiling cannot be raised without substantial spending reform and real spending cuts made now. And that is not something that has been accomplished in this recent "deal." They must also make good on the many promises made to those who voted for them, promises that allow for very little wiggle room on their part. It's either that or they most assuredly will be voted out roughly 16 months from now. It's pretty common knowledge, even to us laymen out here the vast wilderness beyond the "beltway," that this "deal" does not adequately address the problem as it currently exists and will not solve our long-term problem as it does nothing to guarantee future spending cuts. And it is nothing more than one more example, on a very long list of many, where Republicans have been made to "compromise" while those on the left have not.
What we were witness to over the course of the last 48 hours, and really since this entire bizarre process began, has been nothing more than pure politics as usual. Beginning with some etched in granite imaginary deadline that was conceived by Barry's Treasury Department with Timmy "The Tax Cheat" at the helm, this deadline was actually etched in a material that much more closely resembled Jell-O. But it created the necessary environment needed to scare people into passing yet another piece of bad legislation. We were told that we were marching toward Armageddon, but it was all nothing more than theatrics. “You know I haven’t seen the legislation yet — I haven’t had an opportunity to read it yet — based on the summary that I've received so far I am not inclined to support it,” Utah Senator Mike Lee said, while speaking to that pillar of objectivity, CNN's Wolf Blitzer. “What I’ve said since before I was even sworn in to office, Wolf, is that I cannot support any effort to raise the debt limit that isn’t accompanied by immediate and permanent structural spending reform. “I think for reasons I explained in my new book, “The Freedom Agenda,” that can’t happen without an amendment to the Constitution that restricts Congress’ borrowing power,” Senator Lee added. It was Senator Lee who introduced the Cut, Cap, and Balance legislation in the House.
Blitzer asked whether the planned bipartisan committee tasked to come up with an even better deal by Thanksgiving does not satisfy the Tea Party favorite. “You know six or seven months ago here in this town there were a lot of people who were talking about another stimulus package, about more spending — now we’re not talking about those things. We’re instead talking about cutting trillions of dollars,” Lee said. “Not withstanding that, we can’t lose sight of the fact that this is a permanent problem, it is a long-term problem, and a short-term solution can’t solve it.” Lee said that the present Congress can’t guarantee that future legislators will carry through the cuts presupposed in some 11th hour deal that is shove through Congress by present day legislators. There is very little that is any good about this "deal" that has now been reached by our supposed Congressional "leadership" and that will now go before the members for a vote and on to Barry who eagerly awaits it arrival so that he then attend his big fundraising event on August 3. Those of us who are conservatives, once again, got nothing but lip service. There is no there, there. And now members are simply supposed to vote for something, once again, without having the opportunity to thoroughly read it. I've heard that song before, I didn't like it then, and I damn sure don't like it now.
“As I’ve said all along: Whether you are a liberal and you’re most concerned about protecting entitlement programs, or you're a conservative and you’re most concerned about protecting national defense, you ought to care about the fact that we need a balanced budget amendment,” the Senator said. “Because if we don’t have one we’ll continue this out-of-control deficit spending pattern — a pattern that if left unchecked will eventually put us to the point where we’ll be spending more on interest on our national debt than we spend on any other program and that will rob everything from defense to entitlements.” Some have said that this deal has us moving in the right direction. That may be so, but what good does it do when you're moving so slowly that it's hard to see that you're moving at all. It's like, what good does it do someone who weighs 400 pounds to lose 10 pounds? Sure, they may be moving in the right direction but chances are they're going to have a heart attack long before they ever lose enough weight to prevent just such an occurrence from happening. America is headed for a massive heart attack and at the rate this legislation would have us lose weight, nothing has been done to prevent the eventuality that we know is coming.
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