Today’s Agenda

Senator Lee has no
public events and will return to Washington DC on Monday.

From the Senator’s
Desk

“The results continue to show the Presidents policies have
failed to improve our economy or grow jobs:

• The unemployment rate edged up to 9.1% in May,
  from a level of 9.0% in April and 8.8% in March. 
• The percentage and number of long-term
  unemployed (those unemployed for 27 weeks or longer) jumped up to 45.1% and 6.2
  million in May, from 43.4% and 5.8 million in April.
• There were 13.9 million unemployed persons in
  May, up from 13.7 million in April and 13.5 million in March.”

#2ndOpinion

“Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Thursday warned
skeptical Republican freshmen it would be “lights out” for the economy if
Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling.” – The HIll

Blindly raising the debt ceiling yet again carries
significant risk—indeed, a risk that easily rivals that associated with not raising it.  In the last three years, gross federal debt
has grown from 64% to 93% of GDP.  Debt
of this magnitude crowds out much-needed private investment and could lead to
reduced private-sector growth, persistent unemployment, a devastating fiscal
crisis, and skyrocketing interest rates.

Around the Water
Cooler

Wilderness:
“[T]he perpetual struggle over Utah’s federally owned land”

Debt
Limit: “Moody’s urged progress on deficit reduction soon before politics takes
over in the run-up to the November 2012 presidential election”

A Look Ahead

The Chancellor of Germany will visit the White House on
Tuesday and Senator Lee will attend a morning reception for her.   He has
several interviews already lined up, including Fox’s Neil Cavuto on Tuesday, to
talk about the deficit, debt and entitlement reform. The Utah Cattlemen’s
Association will be in the office on Wednesday morning.