Time to make the difficult decisions our country needs

Our country is facing a $14 trillion dollar debt, enough to pave Michigan’s five-mile-long Mackinac Bridge from one end to the other with $100 bills over 10,900 times. For every dollar Congress allocates the US Treasury has to borrow up to $.40 to pay for it. In my view, the debt is not a Republican issue or a Democrat issue, but rather an American issue. Both parties deserve blame for our current situation, but since Democrats took control of Congress in 2007, the debt has increased by $5.3 trillion. This is debt we will be handing over to our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

“In my first visit home, just about everyone in the First District asked me to make sure the federal government spends less.”  

Meanwhile, the economy remains in recession with an unemployment rate hovering at 9 percent. My focus has been to support efforts crafted in Washington that serve to encourage private sector job growth in Northern Michigan. But without addressing our long-term spending problems, we cannot create an environment that will allow for improved job growth.

This past November, American voters sent a clear message that they no longer want their leaders in Washington to ignore our debt crisis. While the Administration may be missing the point, my Republican colleagues and I in the House have responded. We have already cut Congress’ own budget and voted to reduce long-term spending by more than $2.6 trillion by voting to repeal the Administration’s health care law.  However, these measures are just the beginning. In the coming month, we hope to reduce annual spending by at least $100 billion. Chairman Paul Ryan will focus on 2012 by introducing a budget that will begin to lower the deficit and cut job-destroying spending to help the economy grow and create more jobs.

In my first 45 days in office, I have had five to 10 meetings each day with organizations, companies and Washington representatives all hoping to keep their programs free from any spending cuts. No one here in Washington has asked me to spend less. To the contrary, it seems like each meeting ends with the statement “…yes we need to spend less, but not our program.” But this is not the case when I am home in Northern Michigan. In my first visit home, just about everyone in the First District asked me to make sure the federal government spends less.  

Let me be clear, these spending cuts will not be easy. Northern Michigan – like the rest of the nation – has a long list of worthy projects and its people have benefited from admirable federal programs. But, the people of Northern Michigan did not send me to Washington to make easy decisions. The spending cuts in H.R. 1 will have an impact on every community in America, but I believe these reductions are necessary to show that Congress is serious about putting our country on a path to fiscal stability.  

For too many years now we have been mortgaging our children’s future and we cannot allow it to continue. This is a crisis that we can no longer choose to ignore and hope that future generations will solve. It is my hope that our children will look back to this time and know that it was an age when lawmakers finally made the bold decisions needed to move this country away from its history of irresponsible spending and toward a path of economic growth and financially security.   

Rep. Dan Benishek is a former general surgeon and is serving in his first term in the U.S. House of Representatives.