Is the President finally getting the picture?

According to an article last week in Politico, President Obama plans to address cutting the federal deficit and domestic spending in 2010. While that is all well and good, isn’t this reaction almost a year late?

Since President Obama took office we have seen unprecedented government spending, 26-year high unemployment rates, and an ever-expanding federal debt. For 2009, the federal budget deficit hit $1.4 trillion, meaning the government spent $1.4 trillion more than it took in. In October, the start of the new fiscal year, the deficit hit a record of $176.4 billion for just one month. With a start like that, the red ink for 2010 is looking a lot like 2009.

This year we have seen President Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress push a tax-loaded cap and trade plan, costly health care legislation, and an economic “stimulus” package, some of the largest spending programs in our nation’s history. Certainly Congress needs to address the deficit, but we should have started before it became this large.

As many have pointed out, Republicans did not stand strong enough for a limited government when they were in charge in Congress. However, the current Democrat Majority and President Obama have since floored the accelerator and dramatically increased spending and the role of government, refusing to make tough choices and putting all the sacrifice on future generations. Digging the hole even deeper is not the answer.

We must do something more than simply “address” these issues. We need concrete, common-sense solutions that will outline exactly how we will decrease spending and borrowing, without further burdening taxpayers. The real road to economic recovery starts with a return to the principles of fiscal discipline. I have introduced my own bill, H.R. 534 the Responsible Government Empowerment Act, and am a cosponsor of the Spending, Deficit and Debt Control Act of 2009, which outlines how Congress can return to fiscal discipline by putting a lid on spending, combating waste, placing a cap on deficits and creating a legally binding budget. While I hope President Obama’s rhetoric will truly yield reality in the future, what we really need are solutions, like these bills, that put a plan into action right now.