Democrats’ Opinion about Healthcare Entitlement Improves

According to the Democratic polling firm Rasmussen Reports, Democrats attitudes toward President Obama’s healthcare entitlement program are improving.  The report states:

Sixty-five percent (65%) of Democrats now are optimistic about the nation’s current course, a 17-point jump from the week before. Thirty percent (30%) are not. A week ago, Democrats were almost evenly divided on the question: 48% said the country was headed in the right direction, and 44% felt it was going down the wrong track.

It is unclear if Democrats in Arkansas are also becoming more favorable toward the new law, but this poll is certainly a cause for concern to anyone who cares about the direction our country.

I believe many, if not most, Democrats in Arkansas do not favor giving taxpayer-funded health insurance to 32 million people when our government is on the hook for $56.5 trillion and growing at a rate of $340 million an hour.  When people understand the deep, deep financial hole our country is in, I have to believe there is overwhelming opposition to spending trillion more – regardless of party.

In less than 12 years, interest payments on the national debt will be more than what we spend on national defense.  It will be more than we repay in Social Security benefits.  It will even exceed what our government pays for Medicare.  In less than 12 years, our nation’s interest payments will be larger than any other single budget program in our entire government.

Join me is spreading this message throughout the First District and we will seize control of the House from Nancy Pelosi and start the long process of restoring fiscal responsibility.

Are President Obama and Congress Serious About U.S. Fiscal Crisis?

President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform announced Tuesday that it would hold its first meeting on April 27^th.  The purpose of the commission is to address our nation’s near- and long-term budget crisis, which has now reached near epic proportions.

The Congressional Budget Office recently revealed that interest on the national debt will become the single largest line item in the U.S. annual budget within 12 years.  This was before Congress passed the new entitlement program that will add billions more to our debt in the near-term.  It also assumes low interest rates, which most experts believe is improbable.

To put this in perspective, the best-case scenario is that in 12 years, and realistically in fewer years, interest payments on the debt will exceed expenditures for all other single purposes including national defense, Social Security, and Medicare.  How could this happen?  Because we have continually elected professional politicians who are more interested in cutting deals to get reelected than in implementing meaningful budget reform.

The creation of President Obama’s fiscal commission is a perfect example.  Senate Majority Leader Reid and Speaker Pelosi refused to establish a Congressional commission that would develop recommendations to present in a straight up or down vote before Congress.  President Obama declined to use his political capital to push this legislation through, instead focusing his attention on worsening our country’s financial condition by creating a new entitlement program for 32 million people.

President Obama’s commission will develop a plan and present it to Congress later this year – in time for the President to stand before the American people to proclaim he cares about this issue.  If only he were serious.  If only he had used his position to reduce the deficit instead of making it worse.

I have served in the military, held a top secret security clearance, and engaged in critical missions.  Our nation is in desperate need of leaders who will devote their lives to addressing the monumental issues that face us.  You have my duty-sworn pledge to attack the political pandering that has led to our great country being on the brink of self destruction.  You have my word that I will stand up to the professional politicians in both parties who put self interest before the people’s interest.  We as citizens must take back our country by force at the election box, and you have my word that I will carry through with the mission until the job is complete.

Rick Crawford Blasts House Congressional Leaders for Intimidation Tactics

Rick Crawford today called on Speaker Pelosi and other Congressional Democrats to cease employing abusive intimidation tactics against American companies that are required by law to report adverse financial conditions to pension funds, mutual funds, individual stockholders, and other investors that own company shares.

“At Speaker Pelosi’s direction, House Democratic committee chairmen are lining up public interrogation sessions for some of our nation’s leading job creators, including John Deere, Caterpillar, AT&T, and Verizon Communications,” said Crawford.  “Instead of attacking the great American companies who provide tens of thousands of jobs, Congress should be taking a hard look at the true costs of the new healthcare entitlement program.”

Friday House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman and Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Bart Stupak wrote to the heads of John Deere, Caterpillar, AT&T, and Verizon Communications requesting that the companies testify in sworn statements before Congress.  The letters request specific information about accounting methods, emails among senior company officials, and comes with the implicit threat that subpoenas would be issued for companies that refuse to comply with the Congressional request.  The information is due by April 9, 2010, and the hearings are set for April 21, 2010.

Waxman’s call for hearings came after Speaker Pelosi told Democrats to go on the “offensive” in defending and calming public doubts about the new entitlement program.

“This liberal Congress seems to be friendlier toward prisoners at Guantanamo than American job creators,” concluded Crawford.  “Especially during an once-in-a-lifetime economic recession, we should be seeking to work with businesses, not trying to cripple and intimidate them.  I believe that we would have been much better served if Congrress would have focused on creating jobs and addressing the national fiscal crisis rather than spending money we do not have on a new entitlement program for 32 million people that will only put government between us and our doctors.”

Healthcare Vote Highlighted Leadership Void

As I watched last night’s healthcare debate, and the final vote that will enact a new massive entitlement program, I couldn’t help but think about how we got here.Unfortunately, Republicans and Democrats alike have failed us in recent years. Ethical violations, special interest deal-making, and saying one thing while doing another has led to the lowest approval rating of Congress in the modern era.

The primary reason why Republicans were unable to prevent passage of this multi-trillion dollar entitlement program is because they had played the same games when they were in power. Simply put, when you are a two-faced hypocrite, people don’t care what you say.

Folks, we need leadership. We need people who will go to Washington swearing on their life that they will fight the budget and process gimmickry regardless which party seeks to employ it. Country first, party second…period.

Our nation is truly at a crossroad, and I am not sure many have an appreciation for the trouble in which our republic finds itself.  Yes we now have $12 trillion in debt that has been piled up by both political parties. Yes our deficit, the yearly shortfall that adds to our total debt, has been averaging more than $1.5 trillion.  But what our “leaders” rarely talk about is the $56.5 trillion we have in total unfunded promises.

Add it all up and it equates to $184,000 for every man, woman, and child in America. While anyone with common sense would know that we must stop digging the hole deeper, last night Congress used a nuclear bomb to blast the hole even deeper.  And guess who gets to pay for it?

As I pondered this question myself, I realized that what we are doing is quite disturbing. Each generation leaves an inheritance for the next – usually a house, some land, etc.  In our case, we are leaving a brand new, 20,000 square-foot multi-level mansion. In the basement, however, is a dirty bomb of unpaid bills that will obliterate our kids and grandkids not long after we have slipped into the by-and-by.  While some may draw comparisons to certain spine-less acts of war, it really boils down to the superlative form of Selfishness.

Our elected officials have abandoned the founding principles that made our country great. If we are to return to these principles, and avert devastation for our kids and grandkids, then we must not only vote the self-serving hypocrites out of office in November but replace them with men and women who will swear to restore fiscal discipline.

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