RSC Update: Everything But The Kitchen Sink

For the last 11 months, liberals in the Senate and President Obama have blocked almost all the good reforms and spending cuts that Republicans have passed through the House. They backed things up so much that it seems everything but the kitchen sink is on the agenda this week.

Tuesday, the House will vote on a bill (H.R. 3630) extending through 2012 the reduction in the Social Security payroll tax that Congress approved last December. The bill also puts tighter constraints on the growth of future spending, gets the job-creating Keystone pipeline back on track, creates more taxpayer safeguards in the TANF welfare program, and reduces the maximum duration of unemployment payments from 99 to 79 weeks – which President Obama has also proposed – and then finally to 59 weeks. In fact, the President has at one time or another supported 90% of the reforms in this legislation.

There is, however, a major concern that liberals in the Senate will gut H.R. 3630 of its good reforms and insert major tax increases. Senate Democrats also continue to demand spending at levels we simply can’t afford. In their obstinance, they have rolled 9 different spending bills into 1 “megabus” package that they will attempt to pass this week as well.

From the RSC budget to Cut, Cap, and Balance, conservatives have fought all year to get spending down in a serious way. We’ve had some successes and are starting to make an impact, but, as the existence of this “megabus” shows, our work is far from over. With your help, we will continue to advance conservative solutions.

God Bless,

Congressman Jim Jordan