October was certainly an interesting time in Washington. I’d like to take this opportunity to update you on what I’ve been doing.
The month started off with the government shutdown. Not surprisingly, there was a lot of misinformation in the media regarding what the shutdown was “about.” Most reporting suggested it was about repealing Obamacare. The truth is that the shutdown was about fairness. I, along with my colleagues in the House, thought that individuals should be treated the same as big businesses, unions — and bars and restaurants in Nancy Pelosi’s district. President Obama delayed the law for his political friends, donors, and allies, yet wouldn’t consider treating regular citizens the same way. I tried to address that in this CNN interview. I only wish we had been able to get that message out better.
To make a long story short, folks in Washington struck another “deal” to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling so we can continue to borrow money at an unsustainable rate. That makes roughly $1 trillion in debt ceiling increases this year – without a single penny of offsetting savings. I didn’t like that very much, and that’s why I could not support the deal. Here’s my statement.
Once the country was focused on the disastrous rollout of Obamacare, I joined Congressman Trey Gowdy and Congressman Jason Chaffetz in sending a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. After all, she said some outrageous things — including trying to blame Republicans and the government shutdown for the website debacle – and you just can’t let assertions like that go unchallenged. Here’s the text of the letter.
Finally, I usually pride myself on keeping an even keel when it comes to dealing with the craziness in Washington, but I admit sometimes that is beyond my capabilities. Earlier this week was one of those times: the Federal Housing Authority Commissioner came before our Committee on Financial Services — to ask for a $1.7 billion dollar bailout for her agency. That was bad enough, but in the process, she pointed out that she “gets paid the same whether she does a good job or a bad job” and that she “doesn’t make that much in the first place.” That was too much for me. Check out the video.
Last but not least, it’s back to business in Washington, and I’m continuing to work on my top priority – bringing attention to our national debt and working to find solutions to our debt problem. I’ve been trying to get folks in Washington to look at the Fed’s so-called “remittances” and perhaps more importantly, what may well be a future bailout of the Federal Reserve. I’ve been pushing this for about a year; the LA Times finally picked up the story: Here’s the article.
More soon.
I’m hosting a BBQ in Sumter Tuesday. I hope to see you there.
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