As I write this, neither the Senate nor the House have adjourned for the year as various issues are still unresolved. But, hopefully within a few days, the 111th Congress will mercifully come to an end. As I’m sure you know, the tax bill, which I vigorously opposed, passed last week. 35 other Republicans and 112 Democrats joined me in voting “No”. This in spite of immense pressure on Democrats from the President (who was personally making many calls) and on Republicans from our leadership. Your taxes will not go up next year and that part of the bill is good. But, on January 1, 2012, the Alternative Minimum Tax will go up again and your temporary reduction in Social Security tax will end. Then, on January 1, 2013, all the tax rates on everybody will go back up to 2000 levels, including the death tax. So, we will have to have this same fight and same debate again starting in less than 12 months. In the meantime, the federal government is now on track to borrow or print $3.8 TRILLION in the next 24 months, including the "QE2" money printing that the Fed is doing. Let me repeat that. The government will borrow or spend $3.8 trillion in just 24 months under current spending and revenue levels. A PIMCO executive was recently quoted as saying that markets will continue to buy US debt because there is no alternative to the dollar as a reserve currency. Maybe. But, if they ever find an alternative or Europe gets their act together before we do…….
You will hear much more from me on this in the coming year. On another front, however, the so-called "Dream Act" has failed in the Senate. This is good news. This was an amnesty bill, pure and simple. But, just to put part of it in perspective, amongst the things it would do is grant a person amnesty if they came to the US before they were 16 (which, since they came illegally we can’t always verify) and if they apply to attend a public university. By the way, any potential college education will be free or subsidized by American citizens and the applicant will use up a spot in college, thereby preventing an American citizen from attending. Huh? Seriously? So, not only do we grant an illegal alien amnesty, we pay this person and put him or her at the front of the college line?
All the readers of this missive know how strongly I oppose earmarks. Some of you probably disagree with me and accept the argument that they are only 2% of overall spending and we cannot balance the budget with earmarks alone. While this is true, the major problem with earmarks became very apparent last week. Until Harry Reid pulled it last Thursday, the Senate was on the verge of passing a huge "omnibus" bill with both spending increases and 6000 earmarks totaling $8 billion. Apparently, this bill was crafted with the support of 9 Senate Republicans, all of whom received hundreds of millions of dollars from earmarks stuffed in the bill. These Republicans, and almost all Democrats, were supporting a bill spending nearly $1 trillion because they needed it in order to get their $100 million in earmarks. Once the earmarks were exposed and stripped, many of those same Senators now want to cut spending, because the earmark incentive to support overspending is gone. Senator Tom Coburn has long said that earmarks are the "gateway drug to overspending". He is right. That $8 billion in earmarks was driving tens of billions more in overspending.
This is the last laptop report you will receive from me until the new year. We have problems. We have fights. We have issues. Winston Churchill said that, "Democracy is the worst form of government ever devised, except for all the others that have been tried from time to time." All our problems will still be there on January 2nd. We can reengage the battle then. Until then, let us celebrate that our democracy, for all its flaws, is vibrant and healthy and open. Our country, for all its challenges, is still the beacon of freedom and hope in the world. Our families are precious and our Lord is supreme over us all.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to every conservative, every liberal and every moderate! May your holidays be joyous.