Hill not making sense
I appreciate Baron Hill’s frequent efforts to keep his constituents informed of his activity in Congress. But his most recent letter left me confused.
First, Rep. Hill wrote about instituting pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) budgeting — “a rule requiring that the federal government live within its means” — in the first few weeks of the 110th Congress. But then he said that he had recently introduced legislation that would reinstitute “statutory PAYGO rules.” What’s the difference? And does this mean that we won’t have a budget deficit next year?
Second, Rep. Hill referred to budget surpluses in the 1990s. But all except one of those were a function of record-keeping shenanigans that moved Social Security from off-budget to on-budget.
Further, he attributed the surpluses to PAYGO rules. But that’s quite unlikely. Such “rules” have not been effective in curbing Washington DC’s appetite to spend. Does anyone remember the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings “balanced-budget” legislation of the 1980s?
Instead, the top reason for reduced federal deficits in the 1990s, and higher deficits in the 2000s and especially the 1980, was changes in military spending — at the height of the Cold War, after the Cold War, and post-9/11.
Third, Rep. Hill referred to the Democratic Blue Dog Coalition as “fiscally conservative.” To be accurate, he must have meant that the Dogs are fiscally conservative in comparison to most other Democrats. There have been few fiscally conservative Republicans in Congress over the past decade — and Democrats are rarely an improvement in that category.
For example, in this year’s budget cycle, the Democrats have proposed $23 billion more in spending than the big-spending President George Bush, including an extra $17 billion on the war-funding bill. That works out to an additional $300 from the average family of four in higher taxes now or in the future — and is hardly the epitome of fiscal conservatism.
With respect to Rep. Hill in particular: He’s given D’s or F’s by the National Taxpayers Union on his votes for government spending; the National Journal rated him at the 36th percentile; and Citizens Against Government Waste gave him a 13 percent, in the category of “hostile” to taxpayers. In my book, those aren’t good grades.
If Rep. Hill is going to title his legislation the “Fiscal Honesty and Accountability Act,” he should start with more honesty about his fiscal views. If not, voters should provide the accountability in the next election.
— Eric Schansberg, Jeffersonville
Columns
LETTERS: June 21, 2007
- Columns
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CLERE: Walkout is absurd
The walkout by Indiana House Democrats entered its third week yesterday as tensions continued to rise and misinformation proliferated.
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LADD: New Albany has new energy
New Albany is evolving. Public art has become more prevalent in the downtown, drawing more locals and outside visitors to our community; bringing more publicity.
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BEAM: Just smile
Whispers will soon abound outside of school as the corporation enters negotiations this summer with the teacher’s union over a new contract. Aides are not covered under the union.
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HOWEY: Keeping Peyton in the Hoosier pantheon
The critics of keeping Manning suggest he would return to a team struggling to contend. I’m not buying that. The Colts were decimated for a second consecutive year with injuries, particularly on defense. With the top choice in each round, they can quickly reset, as San Francisco and Cincinnati did this year.
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CUMMINS: How to live a stable life
Then I heard Newt Gingrich say that he will establish a colony on the moon by the end of his second term. I’d vote for him if he would go.
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VAN HOY: What’s the point, anyway?
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DODD: Taking shots with the mayor
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NASH: We have to share the road
They are very predictable and almost every one of them say the same thing. They throw around words like “menace” and claim that the roads were meant for automobiles. It is always the same argument that bicycle riders don’t pay taxes and should be registered and be forced to get insurance just like cars.
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STAWAR: Our family strategic plan
Objective 1: Consult tax professional to determine if contributions to job-seeking son, who has a college degree in fine arts, constitutes a charitable deduction (like supporting The Fund for the Arts).
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HARBESON: Recycling: Will it ever stop coming around?
Is the Clark County mandatory recycling program finally against the ropes?
I hope so because I really don’t want to write yet another sequel to this sordid tale that would surely smell worse than Rocky’s armpits. - More Columns Headlines
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