Today’s Agenda
Senator Lee holds his weekly press tele-conference today with Utah media outlets, as well as meetings with the American College of Cardiology and the National Farmers Union. He will appear on Freedom Watch with Judge Napolitano on Tuesday evening.
From the Senator’s Desk
From a Letter to OMB Director Jacob Lew from Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (AL):
“When we received a copy of the legislation yesterday, we were expecting the Office of Management and Budget—which enjoys a five hundred person staff—to provide a precise and detailed estimate of the fiscal impact of the president’s proposal. But no such information was provided.
This is not satisfactory.
Perhaps even more troubling, however, is that despite the emphatic promise that we would learn yesterday how the bill would be offset, this information is missing too.
Given the depth of the economic crisis we now face—slow growth, high debt, and chronic unemployment—the lack of fiscal detail that has been provided to Congress is both disappointing and irresponsible.
The president is asking America to borrow half a trillion dollars for a second stimulus package—one that exchanges a short term infusion of federal cash in exchange for a potentially permanent increase in taxes and debt.
OMB must provide to the Congress and the American people, at a minimum, the basic information that demonstrates in detail, as promised, how this bill will be funded. This information should be provided without delay. Specifically:
–A table showing the expected budgetary impact, by specific policy, of the legislation on an annual basis for fiscal years 2011 through 2021 (the period covered by the president’s most recent budget submission).
— A schedule showing the added interest that the federal government would have to pay on an annual basis and the resulting change in the federal debt (because it is unlikely that the specific offsets contained in the legislation would equal the effect on the budget of the specific proposals intended to encourage economic growth).
–A table illustrating projected changes to the deficit for each of the next ten fiscal years as a result of this legislation. (The bill would presumably create a sudden increase in near-term borrowing, but the offsets are stretched out over a decade. The debt limit agreement saves $7 billion in budget authority for next year’s annual appropriations; this bill, regardless of the offsets, would wipe those savings out.)
We may have raised our legal debt limit but we have breached our economic debt limit. America’s $14.5 trillion gross debt is now 100 percent of GDP. A prominent study from economists Rogoff and Reinhart—praised by Treasury Secretary Geithner as “excellent”—shows that when a nation’s gross debt reaches 90 percent of GDP they lose, on average, a percentage point or more in GDP growth each year. Our debt is depressing growth to unexpected levels and destroying jobs today.”
On Twitter | Follow @SenMikeLee | @SenLeeComs | @SenLeePressSec
SenMikeLee
Another federal judge rules #Obamacare #ACA unconstitutional: http://ow.ly/6tdYC
SenLeeComs
Avg debt per person when Obama took office was $34k. Today it is $47k. #makingitworse
SenLeePressSec
Our weekly Utah Press Tele-Conference will resume [Tuedsday]! Let me know if you need the dial-in info. #utpol #utpress
Recent Votes
On the A joint resolution approving the renewal of import restrictions contained in the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003 voted NAY because it included language that would have increased funds for the Federal Emergency Management Agency that were not offset by higher priority spending.
Around the Water Cooler
Senate GOP seeks regulatory ‘time out’
Collins introduced the Regulatory Time-Out Act, S. 1538, which would create a moratorium on new regulations for one year. “Under my bill, no significant final rule that would have an adverse impact could go into effect during a 1-year moratorium,” she said. “This timeout would cover major rules costing more than $100 million per year, and other rules that have been considered ‘significant’ under Executive orders going back to President Clinton and followed by President George W. Bush and President Obama.”
‘Jobs act’ is another way of saying ‘stimulus’
The Jobs Act, which is best described as Obama’s Stimulus II, will cost somewhere around $450 billion — more than half as big as Obama’s first failed stimulus. White House Budget Director Jack Lew is the man charged with identifying how Obama will pay for this new spending bill. The answer will not surprise you: It’s all about tax hikes.
A Look Ahead
Tomorrow, Senator Lee meets with representatives from the Utah Tourism Industry, the Utah branch of NAIFA, Proctor & Gamble, and has interviews with Lou Dobbs and the New York Times. He also attends his regularly scheduled constituent social hour at 3:30 pm. All are welcome.