Today’s Agenda
Senator Lee has a Foreign Relations Committee meeting today, and interviews with the newspaper Human Events and radio host Lars Larson.
From the Senator’s Desk
Senator Lee noted five objectives the President should support in his speech:
- Structural, binding spending reforms, such as a balanced budget amendment to the constitution, that would reduce the national debt and end the practice of perpetual deficit spending
- Support for sound monetary policy that will prevent further collapse of the dollar, including opposing another round of quantitative easing and additional bailouts of failing banks
- Regulatory reform, including a moratorium on all new regulations until the unemployment rate reaches 7.7% (S. 1438, the Regulation Moratorium and Job Preservation Act sponsored by Sen. Ron Johnson (WI) and certain existing regulations to sunset unless affirmatively enacted into law by Congress (S.299, the REINS Act sponsored by Sen. Rand Paul (KY))
- Reforming the tax code to make American businesses more competitive and put more money in the hands of consumers and investors
- Accelerating development of America’s energy resources by reducing delays and bureaucratic hurdles
On Twitter | Follow @SenMikeLee | @SenLeeComs | @SenLeePressSec
SenMikeLee
Has the “Washington knows best” approach, which leads to excessive borrowing and spending, made #jobs more plentiful? http://ow.ly/6fwTM
SenLeeComs
Shocked – shocked! – to see Obama will push for more spending in Thursday speech http://wapo.st/nS80eN
Recent Votes
On the Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Motion to Proceed to H.R. 1249; A bill to amend title 35, United States Code, to provide for patent reform, Senator Lee voted Nay
Around the Water Cooler
Obama’s jobs speech will renew push for spending to boost economy
Top White House officials have long thought that significant action to bolster the economic recovery was necessary, but concluded that there was no political appetite for new spending. The significant deterioration in the economy — which is in far worse shape than the president anticipated — has made them revisit that calculation.
Highway bill holdup in D.C. could cost Utah 8,910 jobs
Congress has until the end of the month to pass a new extension of the Surface Transportation bill, which divvies up federal gas taxes to local jurisdictions, but administration officials are concerned partisan fighting could end in a permanent roadblock for the legislation.
A Look Ahead
Tomorrow, Senator Lee attends a press conference calling for the new Super Committee to be open to the public and available for television broadcast. He attends committee meeting on the Judiciary and Foreign Relations, and will attend the President’s speech to a Joint Session of Congress.