2010-06-17
John Thune's Amendment Might Dramatically Cut Deficit
Democrats control the House of Representatives, the US Senate, and the White House. As I type, they are trying to pass a budget. That means America is in a lot of trouble. But wait a minute, there's a Republican with a damn good idea and his name is Senator John Thune (SD).
A handful of Democrats recently voted against proceeding with the bill, which would have increased the deficit by around $79 Billion and spending by $126 Billion. In other words, the Budget was so horrendous that even many Democrats couldn't stomach the idea of it. Enter John Thune and his amendment.
To summarize the amendment, Thune is proposing the government trim the budgets of non-defense and non-veteran agency's by 2% between September and the end of this Fiscal Year (September). This step alone would result in $3 Billion savings for the taxpayers. Usually, most government agencies (like departments in large corporations with their own budgets) spend this last quarter spending the remainder of their budgets on frivolous things in order to secure their funding for the next fiscal year anyway, so this wouldn't likely damage the government's ability to do it's crappy job at almost everything.
Thune then argues the government should stop plans for spending large chunks of the unspent stimulus funds and other unspent Federal funds. The unobligated stimulus funds currently total about $55 Billion and other unspent government money is at an astounding $680 Billion.
The final result of the Thune Amendment would be a spending cut of over $100 Billion, a reduction of the deficit by $68 Billion, and a $26 Billion tax cut that would help revitalize the still struggling economy.
Granted, it's not the overhaul and reform that we need, but it's important to realize that Democrats are in charge of the Congress and they're never going to allow the overhaul and reform we need to pass. John Thune is simply trying to limit the damage the Democrats can do to this country before the GOP is in a stronger position. Will it work?
With 11 Democrats crossing party lines to vote against the enormous increases, there's reason to think that it could. The budget isn't going to pass without their support and their support won't come unless the budget becomes more fiscally responsible. As Senator Thune said, Obama's influence over these Democrats has reached its limit (see video, the interview starts a few minutes in). If this specific amendment doesn't pass, I wouldn't be surprised to see Democrats come up with something very similar to it in order to pass the budget this year.
Watch the entire interview, it's a good one (actually, all of his interviews are good ones). What I particularly like about Senator Thune and what I think is lacking on other "leaders" in the Party such as Palin and Huckabee, is this kind of civility. Notice, Thune didn't go nuts bashing Obama and his Democrats as socialist conspirators. In fact, he said that there are limits to how far their willing to go. Ask Palin, and she'll tell you Democrats are willing to stop at nothing to destroy America. Not only is that wrong, it's General Election suicide.
When I say I like Senator John Thune for President in 2012, this is why. Not only is he a conservative who's willing to work in adverse situations, but he's a Republican who moderate Democrats who have reached their limits with Obama can support and get behind fully in a General Election. Senator John Thune is our best chance for taking back the White House in 2012.
