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Straight Talk Sam

February 1, 2010


Freeze Spending At Reasonable Level
We’ve all heard the cliché about closing the barn doors after the horse has bolted. The lesson is that you cannot prevent a problem that has already happened. But that is exactly what the President proposed to do in his State of the Union speech.

He proposed a spending freeze on non-defense, non-homeland security discretionary spending. Discretionary spending is the spending over which Congress has direct control. Other programs, like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, are entitlement programs whose spending increases are based on a formula.

I agree with the President that we need to rein in Washington spending. However, we need far more than a spending freeze to repair a budget deficit that was $1.4 trillion last year and is projected to be $1.35 trillion this year.

The programs that the President is now proposing to freeze already received an enormous spending increase of 17.4% last year. Yes, we need to freeze spending, but not at last year’s budget-busting levels.

Congress overspent last year. We need to freeze spending at a more reasonable level. It’s disingenuous to talk about fiscal discipline after approving one of the largest spending sprees in history.

For far too long, Washington has simply increased spending without worrying about where that money would come from. I’m glad that Congress is at least discussing spending less money.

However, the time for half-hearted measures is over. We must begin to make tough decisions about our priorities. We need to get the horse back in the barn.

Sincerely,
Sam Graves Signature
Sam Graves

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Contact Information


Washington D.C. Office
1415 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Phone: 202.225.7041
Fax: 202.225.8221

Website:
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St. Joseph, Missouri 64501

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This Week in Washington
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This Week in Washington- Thursday, January 28, 2010

The House had an unusually light week of work. That was partly due to the State of the Union Speech and partly due to a Congressional retreat in Baltimore.

The State of the Union speech was on Wednesday night. Frankly, I was disappointed to hear the President continue to talk about Healthcare and Cap and trade legislation. He acknowledged that Congress should make helping create jobs the top issue, but pushed legislation that would do just the opposite.

I’m glad that we are talking about reducing spending for a change. However, last year’s deficit was $1.4 trillion and this year’s deficit is projected at $1.35 trillion. We need to take drastic action. A spending freeze is a first step, but Congress should do much, much more. We cannot sustain the out of control spending in Washington.

Legislation:

H.R. 3726, the Castle Nugent National Historic Site Establishment Act, passed by a vote of 240-175.  The bill would establish a new National Historic Site on the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is 3,000 acres of beachfront property in St. Croix. I voted against the bill because the National Parks Service study had not been completed, it cost $50 million to purchase the land and there was no guarantee that private homeowners wanted to sell their land. That would mean the eminent domain law may have been used to get the land.

H.R. 4474, the Idaho Wilderness Water Resources Protection Act, extends permits to operate water facilities on certain federal land in Idaho and passed by a vote of 415-0.

Small Business Expo: This is your last chance to register for the Second Annual Sixth Congressional District Small Business Expo on Monday, February 1st. It will be held at the Vision Center on the Cerner Campus in North Kansas City.

The Expo will have several different panel topics for attendees to choose from, including: Access to Capital; Getting the most out of your Website and Social Media; Tax Information and Credits; Best Business Practices; Exporting Goods and Services; Federal Procurement Opportunities and Missouri Economic Development.
Registration will begin at 8 a.m. and the event will end at 3:15 p.m.

For more information or to RSVP, please call Shawna Searcy at (816) 792-3976.
The House will be is session again next week. Have a good weekend.
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Sam Graves