Our national budget crisis

Today President Obama proposes his budget for FY2012 and the House of Representatives considers a bill finalizing the remainder of the FY2011 budget. While we absolutely have to stop the runaway spending of recent years, unfortunately slashing discretionary spending will not fix our problem. We could zero out all discretionary spending, and we still wouldn’t fix the long term budget trajectory as our entitlement programs continue to grow.

Where does this leave us? First, we need to determine which functions of the federal government are truly essential for our nation’s security and prosperity. The President needs to stop proposing more spending and nifty new programs and instead only fund programs that are truly vital to our nation. I believe maintaining a strong defense is a vital, Constitutional responsibility of the federal government, but I think much of the rest of our discretionary spending is optional, not essential.

Secondly, it is essential that we deal with our run away entitlement programs before there is a total economic meltdown. While it is always easier to kick the can down the road, we are approaching the edge of the cliff and need to reform our entitlements now. Rep. Paul Ryan, Chairman of the House Budget Committee, has proposed what he calls “A Roadmap for America’s Future” that would address these issues in a responsible manner. While not everyone likes everything in Ryan’s proposal, that is often the nature of meaningful reform. America’s elected leaders must address today’s problems while improving our nation’s future.

This Congress, I specifically asked for a seat on the House Budget Committee because I believe that our nation’s budget situation is unsustainable. There is no easy path forward. Instead, we must make the difficult but necessary decisions today that will give our children and grandchildren a brighter future. We need to be saving for our grandkids’ future, not giving them $4800 a piece in debt every year of their lives.