Now My Liberal Friends Can Yell At Me

After my last blog entry, which I viewed as fairly balanced in my outlook of both parties, I had several of my more conservative friends(?) start yelling about me being a "flaming lib'. It was said that I showed my usual bias against the Republicans and conservative thinking. I found it to be an educational and eye-opening experience. Not only did I increase my insult vocabulary, I learned several new Obama/Pelosi jokes which I will use sometime at a future date.

For now, I thought I might address something that was in the news this week, the extension of unemployment benefits and the Senator who fought them.

Now I am not a big fan of Senator Jim Bunning even if he did pitch for the Detroit Tigers at one time during his career. He endeared himself even less to me when he, and the other southern Senators feeding from the Foreign Automakers trough, tried to put Detroit out of business.

With that said, Jim Bunning answered his critics in a piece in USA Today,
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2010/03/column-why-i-took-a-stand-.html , and his argument makes sense. Here is the reprint:


Jim Bunning: Why I took a stand

‘If the Senate cannot find $10 billion to pay for a measure we all support, we will never pay for anything.’

By Jim Bunning

I have been serving the citizens of Kentucky for nearly 24 years in Washington. During that time I have been a member of both the House of Representatives and the United States Senate. I have taken thousands of votes in relation to spending the taxpayers' money. I will be the first one to admit that I have cast some bad votes during my tenure, and I wish I could have some of them back. For too long, both Republicans and Democrats have treated the taxpayers' money as a slush fund that does not ever end. At some point, the madness has to stop.

Over a month ago, Democrats passed and President Obama signed into law the "Pay-Go" legislation. It calls on Congress to pay for bills by not adding to our debt. It sounds like a common sense tool that would rein in government spending. Unfortunately, Pay-Go is a paper tiger. It has no teeth. I did not vote for the Democrats' Pay-Go legislation because I knew it was just a political dog-and-pony show to get some good press after some political setbacks. Since the Pay-Go rule was enacted, the national debt has gone up $244,992,297,448.11 (as of Wednesday, that is).

Why now?

Last week, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., asked to pass a 30-day extensions bill for unemployment insurance and other federal programs. Earlier in February, those extensions were included in a broader bipartisan bill that was paid for but did not meet Sen. Reid's approval, and he nixed the deal. When I saw the Democrats in Congress were going to vote on the extensions bill without paying for it and not following their own Pay-Go rules, I said enough is enough.
Many people asked me, "Why now?" My answer is, "Why not now?" Why can't a non-controversial measure in the Senate that would help those in need be paid for? If the Senate cannot find $10 billion to pay for a measure we all support, we will never pay for anything.

America is under a mountain of debt. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a hearing last month that the United States' debt is unsustainable. We are on the verge of a tipping point where America's debt will bring down our economy, and more people will join the unemployment lines. That is why I used my right as a United States Senator and objected.
Only in Washington

After four legislative days of impasse, I reached a supposed deal with Majority Leader Reid to have an up-or-down vote on a pay-for amendment that would fully fund the legislation and not add to the debt. Only minutes before the vote, Democrats used a parliamentary maneuver to set aside my amendment and not vote on the actual substance of it. Only in Washington could this happen. The Democrats did not want to vote on my amendment because they knew they were in the wrong and ignored their own rules. Hypocrisy again rules the day in Washington.

I have 40 grandchildren, and I want them to grow up in a country where they have all of the same opportunities I had as a child. I fear that they will not have those opportunities if Washington continues on its course of spending without paying for it. We are at over $12 trillion in debt. I know many Americans sit around their kitchen table and make the tough decisions. It is time for the politicians in Washington to do the same.

Jim Bunning is a Republican senator from Kentucky.

Now I need to say that in principle I agree with the Senators stance on funding additional spending. Where we disagree is with when to apply it. With all of the millions of dollars our government throws into the toilet via Iraq, Afghanistan, pork in almost every spending bill and budget passed by Congress, you had to make an example out of one that helps people who are in a situation largely created by our Government?

Good thought, bad timing, and another example of how out of touch Congress is with America. And I'm not singling out Senator Bunning, I mean Obama, Pelosi, Reid, along with Bunning. We do need to reduce the budget, we do need to reign in rampant spending by both parties, but for the millions of Americans that fall asleep every night wondering if they'll make it through the next week, you had to add to their worries? Next time play politics with your own emotions.

I only hope someone doesn't treat your 40 grandchildren that way someday.