Following Utah's Lead -- Day Lee Briefing 7/20/2011
Jul 20, 2011
Paralyzed by politics, Washington rarely makes the difficult choices to fix the fundamental problems we face. In this case, eliminating our deficits and reducing our debt would require immediate and, in some cases, painful spending cuts. We must limit spending over the next decade to eventually zero-out our annual deficits. And above all, we will have to fundamentally change the rules of how Washington spends taxpayer money.
Lee: Merger Deserves Careful Review
Jul 20, 2011
The mobile phone market is a critical component of our nation’s economy and the proposed merger between AT&T and T-Mobile deserves careful review. In my view, the merger has the potential to provide significant network efficiencies that may help alleviate capacity constraints, enable enhanced service quality, and facilitate expansion of a 4G LTE nationwide network, which would in turn create opportunities for handset innovation and continued development of data-rich applications.
Democrats and the Balanced Budget Amendment -- Day Lee Briefing 7/19/2011
Jul 19, 2011
Unlike the President, some Democrats do support a balanced budget.
Lee: After Vote, President Has Some Explaining to Do
Jul 19, 2011
After the House passes the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act, as I expect them to do, the President will have to explain to the American people why he, Harry Reid, and Senate Democrats are blocking the increase in the debt ceiling they requested. So far, we have heard that the President opposes immediate spending cuts and a constitutional amendment that requires the federal government to balance it budget, which puts him directly at odds with the majority of Americans.
Cut, Cap, Balance - Giving the President What He Wants and What He Needs
Jul 19, 2011
Today, the House will vote on a common-sense, reasonable compromise to raise the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion. In giving the President every penny of debt ceiling he has requested, Republicans have asked for immediate spending cuts and a multi-year framework to balance the federal budget.
Even before the House has begun debate on the measure, the President announced he planned to veto the bill if it came to his desk. One has to wonder why the President believes that spending cuts and balanced budgets are "unrealistic policy goals".
Pledge or Plunge -- Day Lee Briefing 7/18/2011
Jul 18, 2011
First, Congress must make immediate spending cuts that will significantly reduce the deficit. Next, it must enact spending caps that put the federal government on a glide path toward a balanced budget. And finally, Congress must pass a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution that forces Congress to spend no more than it takes in each year, limits spending as a percentage of the GDP, and requires a supermajority to increase taxes or raise the debt ceiling.
Lee Demands President to Explain Social Security Threat
Jul 14, 2011
That begs the question, why are Social Security beneficiaries the first to be threatened? Why is it their checks that the President is threatening to withhold first?
There is no explanation to this that he's offered, and I hereby demand one. I think our current retirees deserve more than to be used as pawns in a high-stakes political game; one that uses fear and uncertainty and doubt rather than reason and discussion and debate and willingness to compromise.
The Worst Recovery in Modern Times -- Day Lee Briefing 7/14/2011
Jul 14, 2011
Today’s Agenda
Senator Lee will give a floor speech on the Democrats’ refusal to propose a budget and his legislation to grow the economy, the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act. He meets with several Utah groups today, including the Utah Association of Elementary School Principals. He will appear on Fox’s “Your World” this afternoon.
From the Senator’s Desk
“Simply put, the approach of the Obama administration to get this economy on its feet again has been a patent failure. All the money spent trying to “stimulate” the economy has turned out to be counter-productive, sucking resources and capital out of the private sector and pouring them down the black hole of the federal government, while reducing individuals’ and businesses’ spending and hiring out of fear over rising debt and taxes.
“This is unquestionably the worst recovery in modern times. Still, the President continues to push for policies like tax increases that will further weaken our economy. The better approach to raising revenue is to grow our economy, not by raising taxes on America’s job creators.
“Along with 20 of my colleagues, I have proposed the “Cut, Cap, and Balance” Act, legislation aimed at growing our economy by reigning in government spending. The bill would reduce total spending next year by $142 Billion, set caps on spending over the next decade, and require Congress to pass a balanced budget amendment before it can raise the debt ceiling. Reducing our annual deficit and national debt will accomplish at least two things to help get our economy back on track: (1) decrease the “dead weight loss” of tax receipts as interest payments swallow an increasing larger share of total budget outlays and (2) lessen the “crowding-out” of private investment by large amounts of federal spending.” Obama’s “recovery” worst in modern times, Sen. Mike Lee
Recent Votes
On a motion to proceed to consider the Military Construction Appropriations bill, Senator Lee voted NAY. Senator Lee has called for the Senate to not proceed to any legislation unrelated to our looming national debt crisis.
Around the Water Cooler
Debt Deal: “Eric, don’t call my bluff.”
BBA: “A growing number of Republicans say Congress must pass a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution before they will vote to raise the government's borrowing limit, creating a serious new wrinkle in the debt talks.”
A Look Ahead
Senator Lee is in Utah this weekend and returns to Washington on Monday.
Lee Demands President to Explain Social Security Threat -- Floor Speech -- 07/14/2011
Jul 14, 2011
Another thing that we face right now, that's something that I find completely unacceptable, is the fact that amidst all of this debate and discussion that we've had in recent weeks about the debt limit, amidst the offer on the part of what are now most of the Republicans in the United States Senate to raise the debt limit under the circumstances that I've outlined, the President of the United States responded to those offers by threatening, promising perhaps, to cut Social Security benefits to current retirees if the debt limit is not immediately raised and raised only consistent with the conditions that he's demanding right now.
Going for the Jugular: President Obama Doesn't Have to Choose to Cut Social Security Benefits
Jul 13, 2011
President Obama is now threatening to cut Social Security payments if the debt ceiling is not increased. Under the law, the President and Secretary Geithner have great discretion to direct funds in the case the debt ceiling is not raised, so Americans should take his threat seriously. Currently the United States borrows roughly $125 billion every month. Instead of cutting Social Security for America’s seniors and disabled men, women, and children, as the President proposes, I have identified almost 20 line items in the budget he could trim instead.
