Boehner and Cantor may talk a good line, but the sad fact of the matter is that they have been quite a major disappointment to many. Because since the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, which took office little over a year ago, in January 2011, it has enacted federal spending bills under which the national debt has increased more in less than one term of Congress than in the first 97 Congresses combined. In the fifteen months that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives--led by Speaker John Boehner--has effectively enjoyed a constitutional veto over federal spending, the federal government’s debt has still increased by over $1.5 trillion. Article 1, Section 9, Clause 7 of the same Constitution that these two are so fond of referring to, says, and I quote, “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.” A law appropriating money cannot be enacted unless it is approved by the House. We all had high hopes back in November of 2010, well at least I did, that finally we would be getting some adult supervision back into Congress. I guess I was pretty naïve.
The approximately $1.59 trillion in new debt that has been accumulated since the Republican-controlled House gained what we all hoped would be an effective veto over federal spending legislation, is more than the total increase in the federal debt between 1789, when the first Congress convened, and October 1984, when the 98th Congress was nearing the end of its second session. Under Rep. Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania, who served as speaker in the first Congress the total debt of the federal government was about $75.5 million. Rep. Tip O’Neill of Massachusetts served his third term as speaker in the 98th Congress, by then the total national debt was up to approximately $1,572,266,000,000.00. When Boehner became speaker on Jan. 5, 2011, the federal government was operating under a continuing resolution that had been passed on Dec. 21, 2010 by a lame-duck Congress. That CR expired on March 4, 2011. On March 1, 2011, Boehner agreed to a new short-term spending deal with Barry and Democratic congressional leaders to keep the government running past the March 4, 2011 expiration of the old CR.
Since that March date, federal expenditures have been carried out under a series of CRs approved by both the Republican-controlled House and the Democrat-controlled Senate and signed into law by Barry “Almighty”. At the close of business on March 4, 2011, the total federal debt sat at $14,182,627,184,881.03, that according to the Treasury Department's Bureau of the Public Debt. At the close of business on May 31, 2012, it was now at $15,770,685,085,364.14. That is an increase of $1,588,057,900,483.11—in just 15 months! All of the debt accumulated by the federal government throughout the history of the country did not exceed $1.588 trillion until October 1984. Under the Republican-controlled House, the federal debt has been steadily increasing at an average pace of about $105.9 billion per month. This is simply unacceptable. How can anyone in their right mind think that this is a good idea? To say that I am disappointed in both Mr. Boehner and Mr. Cantor is an understatement. But I know many of you would be telling that I shouldn’t be surprised. And I guess you’d be right. We seem to be intent on digging our own grave.
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