Time for Democrats to present a serious plan

Democrats have resisted at every turn. To conceal the extent of their spending plans, they didn’t even pass a budget last year.

After a nationwide repudiation of their policies in November, they proposed a massive spending bill loaded with new spending that amounted to a slap in the face to the voters.

Following the outrage that provoked, they tried to get a spending freeze past the public.

They said, “How about we just lock in place the out-of-control spending levels we set last year?”

To them, this entire debate isn’t about how to respond to the American people. It’s about seeing what they can get away with.

Well, Republicans have taken a different approach. Responding to our constituents, we’ve insisted the status quo won’t cut it anymore. We’ve insisted on shrinking the size of government. And yesterday we delivered, by forcing the first actual cut in government spending in recent memory.

While it was just a small, first step, yesterday we showed it’s possible to change the status quo in Washington. Not bad.

What about the White House? The White House responded to all this by announcing they wanted to have a meeting. And Republicans are happy to go.

But putting a meeting on the schedule doesn’t change the fact that neither the White House nor a single Democrat in Congress has proposed a plan that would allow the government to remain open and that would respond to the voters by reining in spending.

All we get is talk. The President made an audacious assertion yesterday after the two-week CR was passed. He said he wants his advisors to help come up with a plan that ‘makes sure we are living within our means.’ 

Live within our means? Let me remind you Mr. President, that the President’s budget has us amassing a national debt of more than $20 trillion dollars within the next five years. That we are projected to spend more than $1.6 trillion dollars this year alone more than we’re taking in.

Does this mean we can expect the President’s budget director to present us with a piece of paper that outlines $1.6 trillion dollars in cuts for the current fiscal year? If so, that’s great news.

If the President’s measure of success, as he said, is a plan that makes sure we actually live within our means, the way most people do, count on me showing up early for this meeting.

Unfortunately, I suspect the President is once again just saying something he thinks people want to hear. The fact is, if Democrats had a plan of their own that would cut one dollar in spending I think we would have seen it by now.

But we haven’t. Democrats have abdicated all responsibility for their own recklessness over the past two years. They’ve left it to us to do something about it.

We made a step in the right direction yesterday after months of resistance on their part. Now we look forward to their plan. It’s time for Democrats to present a serious plan of their own that addresses this crisis. It’s time for Democrats to take the concerns of the American people seriously.

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