“….Uh, I’ve talked to a lot of business owners in the fourth district that tell me that they would like to expand their business, they would like to open up a second location, they’d like to hire more workers, but, they’re concerned if there’s gonna to be another recession because of all the debt we have….”

That’s interesting, I thought businesses made the decision to expand based on demand for what they produce like when, you know, consumers spend money to buy their products, not because the business owner lies awake at night worrying about the national debt.

Previously:

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): town hall in Blue Springs, part 1 (April 29, 2011)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): town hall in Harrisonville, Missouri – the reviews are in (April 29, 2011)

This is the continuation of the transcript of Representative Vicky Hartzler’s (r) town hall in Blue Springs, Missouri on Thursday, April 28, 2011:

Representative Vicky Hartzler (r):  So how many would agree with this? We have a debt crisis in our country. Raise your hand. Most people. Okay. I think so. And several really smart think so. This is the co-chair of President Obama’s commission. He says, the debt is like a cancer. It’s truly going to destroy our country from within. The director of CBO [Congressional Budget Office] said, uh, that, uh, the fiscal policy’s on an unsustainable path. I think you and I would know that. Any time you borrow forty-two cents out of a dollar you know you’re, you can’t keep doing that. Um, to an extent  that it can’t be solved with minor tinkering…

…Now, what impact is this having on us? Well, I’d like to just share my opinion in at least three areas. And one is, it’s impacting jobs, uh, two, I think it’s impacting our national security, uh, and three, I think it’s impacting our, our children’s future. There, so.

How does it impact jobs? Well, here’s what the CEO of Honeywell said, uh, the seeds of the next recession have already been planted. The debt burden, accumulate over the next ten years, will sink us. There’s a lot of uncertainty out there in the job market, in business. Uh, I’ve talked to a lot of business owners in the fourth district that tell me that they would like to expand their business, they would like to open up a second location, they’d like to hire more workers, but, they’re concerned if there’s gonna to be another recession because of all the debt we have. Uh, they’re concerned because what they’re, Washington is doing, basically, and what, what they’re taxes are and if their taxes gonna be raised. If their, what their electric bill is gonna be ’cause last year they were proposing the cap and tax which would have doubled the energy bill, uh, with their health care costs, with last year’s passage of the health care bill health care costs are skyrocketing even more, if that’s possible. And, so, because of that they’re not hiring. And that just breaks my heart because on the other hand I talk to some people in the fourth district who are saying, I’m looking for a job. Probably all of us in here know people who are looking for work. And, it’s, it’s sad. You got business owners want to expand, you got people needing job, but because of the debt, because of all this, uh, it’s not happening. So that’s, uh, I think incentive, if nothing else for us to start reining in our debt so we can get people back to work.  Ben Bernanke, if you like him or not, he kind of said the same thing. Unless we as a nation make a strong commitment to fiscal responsibility in the longer run we’re still, we’re gonna have neither financial stability nor healthy economic growth.

Another way this debt is threatening us threatening us, besides in job growth, is our national security. And this is probably the most sobering part for me. Uh, we can see the changes of who owns our debt. Nineteen seventy, when I was younger [laughter], um, only five percent of our debt was held by foreign countries. The rest was owned by the United States, you and I, citizens. I know when I was born my grandma and granddad bought me twenty-five dollar savings bond. Maybe some of you had that. And, uh, we as American citizens bought savings bonds and treasury bills and things and so Americans, uh, we owned the debt. Nineteen percent in nineteen ninety, but now, forty-seven percent of our, uh, debt, not only has the debt gone up, but it’s being held by foreign countries. And who are those countries? You have any guess who our number one creditor is? [voices: “China.”]  I knew you were a smart group when I walked in the room. You are. That’s, yep. Twenty nine point two percent of our foreign debt is owned by China. And twenty percent is owed to China, uh, Japan. Now, of course, Japan’s a friend, but, you know what my first thought was when I heard about the earthquake? I’d seen this slide. I thought, oh my goodness, I hope they don’t call in their debt. They need money over there to rebuild. Where are we gonna get this, I don’t know how much twenty percent is, I’d have to do a little math, uh, the total debt and all that, but, what, what are we gonna do since we don’t have extra money? We’re borrowing forty-two cents on every dollar anyway. Let’s just go to China and borrow some more money from China to pay Japan. That reminds me of some, uh, people I, I’ve known who’ve, uh, had an awful time, they get carried away on the credit cards. I don’t know if you know anybody, but, get so extended that they get the cash out of one credit card to go pay the minimum balance on the other credit card. Uh, the little, you know, that’s, you can’t do that very long or you’re gonna go bankrupt. So, this is concerning.

I’m very concerned about China in many ways. Uh, on foreign, uh, on, uh, on Armed Services Committee I’ve heard some, uh, sobering things, some I can’t share, but the things I can share is this. Their spending this year are twelve percent of their debt, of their, excuse me, their national budget on national defense. They’re building up their defense. They are right now constructing thirteen nuclear subs, we’re constructing one. Two months ago they just, uh, introduced their first version of their stealth fighter aircraft, kind of like our B-2, it’s a, you can’t see it. A month ago they introduced a twelve hundred mile aircraft carrier, bunk, busting bomb. Now, that’s almost getting to the range of Guam and stuff. Uh, trying to think if there’s something else. I mean, that’s bad, I think that’s all I can share. But, what are they doing? I don’t know. But I just know they’re doing it with a lot of our money. And here’s a sobering, uh, statistic. With just the interest that we pay every week to China on the debt we owe them they would have enough money to buy three strike fighters with fifty million dollars left over. You know, when I was a kid my, uh, parents taught me proverb which you probably are familiar with, that the borrower is servant to the lender. You heard that? And I think of that when I think of China. It’s like, doesn’t make me sleep well at night when you think about that, that we are so beholden to China. It impacts our negotiating power with them, too.

You probably know they’re, they’re stealing our intellectual property so much. Um, our American companies go over there and then they download their secrets and stuff. And so, say our President goes over and tries to negotiate or talk to their president, you don’t have near the leverage when you’re talking to somebody owns all your debt. So, I think that’s one reason Admiral Mike Mullen, who’s the Chairman of Joint Chiefs, Chief of Staff, last July said something pretty profound when he said, I think the biggest threat we have to our national security is our national debt. That surprised a lot of people. Some people thought that it was, uh, would sa
id, you know, who knows, Iran, North Korea or something better. But you stop and think about it, if we go bankrupt as a country and don’t have the money we can’t buy any airplanes or whatever we need to defend ourselves. Plus, we lose that negotiating power. The more debt we have the more beholden we become to other countries. It makes it more difficult in negotiating, too., so you don’t have to wars.

Anyway, there’s a lot of reasons to rein in our debt. If you’re not convinced yet, if, if national security or jobs, uh, our children’s futures is, I believe, at stake. Uh, my husband and I have a twelve year old daughter and , uh, I, I know a lot of you probably have grandkids and kids and that’s probably why you’re out here tonight instead of mowing your grass. It’s because, concerned about the future. I just have a question, I was curious, I been asking people across the fourth district this week, uh, two questions. Um, one, how many of you believe that your generation had more opportunity, more freedom, uh, more, higher standard of living than the generation before? Would you raise your hand. Okay. All right, good. Now, here’s the second one, just curious, how many of you really believe that next, the next generation will have more opportunity, more freedom, more, higher standard of living than you’ve had. Wow. [laugh] I’m glad you’re optimistic. [inaudible] I hope so. [voice, inaudible] Yeah, that’s right, thank you. It depends on what we do now. You’re so right [….]. I think that, uh, no matter what, and this, this whole debt crisis issue, it’s a bipartisan issue. Uh, it, it’s not, you know, one way or the other, both Democrats and Republicans have spent too much money in Washington for too long. I mean, that’s the bottom line. And we haven’t gotten here overnight. It’s taken a lot of years, uh, everybody, spending too much, spending money we don’t have. So, now, you and I are here at this time in history and now we have to decide what we’re gonna do as we move forward. And I’m with you, [….], I think we still can turn things around and change things. But, I think we’d better get started soon [laugh] is my, my thought on that.

We have a “debt crisis” because dubya gave a windfall tax break to the top two percent, thereby increasing the distribution of wealth upward, and significantly decreasing revenue.

Uh, this is a sobering quote, I won’t read it all, but this guy, uh, is basically saying if we don’t change things our children’s future is gonna be a lot duller and they’re not gonna have opportunities. At least that’s what he thinks, so, anyway. How many of you would agree with this statement? We have a debt crisis because Washington spends too much, not because Washington taxes too little. [voice: “Amen.”]  Okay. [laugh] All right. Good. Because this is what you’re gonna hear a lot about the next few months. Uh, there’s two views on this. How do we balance the budget, how do we get out of debt? Uh, I , I believe we need to be lettin’ people keep more of their money and put it in to the economy. Uh, and let businesses keep more of their money so they can hire more workers and turn things around. But there’s other people who, oops, other people who think that, uh, including our president, that we need to raise taxes as a way to balance the budget. So, uh, you’re gonna hear a lot of that. But, I’m on the side of let’s, let’s cut spending, let’s not raise taxes.

This is the proj, trajectory according to the, uh, CBO [Congressional Budget Office], of if we do, don’t do anything where our, the spending trajectory. Um, and, you know, taxes would have to follow that if we wanted to try and do that. I don’t think anybody wants to spend that many taxes.

Representative Vicky Hartzler’s (r) “crazy chart” which, interestingly enough, only goes to 2007. Why is that?

[red emphasis added]

This is a crazy chart and it’s not really that complicated. It’s just making a point that throwing more federal money into the system does not create jobs. Last year we had the stimulus package and, and they borrowed more money from China and tried programs and it was supposed to bring down unemployment to eight percent and, as you know, it, it went up, in fact. And you can see, over years, this is from nineteen seventy-one to two thousand seven, a chart of when the federal government spends, that’s the navy blue line, and how many private jo, private sector jobs are created. And they’re almost opposite. Whereas this, the more private investment that is made the more private jobs. It’s almost, you know, it’s a direct correlation there, so. That [inaudible] backs up, which I think let business owners keep more of their money and let them hire people, rather than have the federal government try to do it.

This is what you get when your chart goes beyond 2007, you know, for an additional four years: The Employment Situation in March (2011) “…In addition to the increases last month, the estimates of private sector job growth for January (now +94,000) and February (now +240,000) were revised up significantly. Overall payroll employment rose by 216,000 in March. Payroll employment grew in almost every sector. Solid employment increases occurred in professional and business services (+78,000), education and health services (+45,000), leisure and hospitality (+37,000), wholesale and retail trade (+31,800), and manufacturing (+17,000). Local government experienced a decline of 15,000, and has shed jobs in 16 of the past 17 months….”

Where is all this spending going, coming from, this trajectory? Well, it’s what we call, all, the main programs that are auto pilot. By auto pilot, means Congress usually doesn’t debate ’em every year. They were passed years ago, they’re just on auto pilot, they just keep going and going and going, and they’re getting bigger and bigger and bigger. So, what are they? Uh, well, they’re the main ones that most elected officials are afraid to say because they’re afraid they won’t get reelected. So, I’ll whisper it. [whisper] Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security are the main, main ones. But, you know, uh, we’re, I’m gonna share with you, uh, a minute the proposal that I voted for on your behalf that we passed out of the House a couple weeks ago that seeks to reform these programs to save them for future generations. Plus, at the same time, reduces their overall cost. And I think we need more people in Washington, D.C. who are more concerned with doing the right thing rather than trying to be reelected. And so, there’s several of us like that and we’re ready to do that.

Here’s just three of ’em, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, see, they’re expected to take every, all of it, uh, in just a few years down the road. Social Security is really not, um, it’s growing, but not as fast as, as these others. Medicare is the main one. And why is Social Security, we’ll start with Social Security, why is it, you know, consuming more of, I think this is common sense, you guys, you know, probably figured this out, Americans are living longer, more seniors receiving benefits and birth rates aren’t keeping up.

Uh, this is a slide you’ve probably seen, it’s been around a long time. It’s showing the change in the number of workers paying into Social Security, uh, for every recipient. Nineteen fifty, uh, sixteen and a half workers, uh, this year, it’s two thousand eleven, so it’s probably a little less than three workers for every recipient. So, that is, that is one of the issues there.

Let me go back, though. Uh, this one, with Paul Ryan, the budget chair, he, he brought up, I think, a good point, he says it real
ly wouldn’t be that hard to, to fix Social Security. It’s, it’s, it’s the easiest of these three to fix because it’s a, uh, defined contribution program and a defined benefit program. So you could tw, make a few tweaks on either end, um, and those could be lots of things, but, it could be balanced fairly easily. So, it’s not rocket science, it can be done, and it should be done to preserve it so, uh, it’ll be there when, uh, when children, you know, our children and grandchildren get there.

Now, Medicare and Medicaid, uh, you know, they’re going up because health care. Everybody knows that, right? Health care is skyrocketing, the costs. Just the costs. Aging population leading to record Medicare enrollment. Uh, this number is, before I came here, this time, D.C., they told me two weeks ago that ten thousand of us baby boomers are joining Medicare and Social Security a day in our country now. How many of us are baby boomers? Raise your hand. And I’m one of ’em. Oh, a lot of us. [laugh] Okay. By the way, I’m on the younger end of the baby boom, I just wanted to clarify that. But, anyway. Yeah, there’s ten thousand of us a day entering the system, so you could imagine, between that and escalating health care costs it’s, uh, kind of like a giant Pacman. It’s, it’s consuming more and more, trajectory is just off the charts, if we don’t make any changes to the program.

As far as Medicaid you probably know that’s the, uh, medical program for low income Americans. And, uh, not only does it have the same health care costs, but also the economic downturn is leading to more people being enrolled and that’s part of the issue in that.

But, anyway, now, if we don’t do anything it’s not good. Medicare’s expected to go broke in nine years, was a quote I heard in, in D.C. I wanted to pass on to you. The Social Security, they say if you don’t do something there, uh, the Social Security benefits would be cut by twenty-two percent, potentially, in a few years. [voice: “When.”] So, there’s some issues there.

But, we in the House have put forth a plan to save and strengthen these programs and at the same time help reduce the overall cost and the debt. And, so, I wanted to give you just a few of the principles behind our plan. And, I’ve learned everything Washington, D.C. has a fancy name. I mean, it doesn’t matter who introduces a bill, you got to have a fancy name. So, this is the [exaggerated] Path to Prosperity plan, but. Whoops, hey, there we go. The main thing I want you to know is that we’re not proposing any changes for current seniors. How many of you are fifty-five and older? Okay, okay. If you raised your hand nothing would change. If you don’t remember anything else [voice, “So, so what?”], please take that with you because that’s not what you’re gonna hear from some people. Some people are just flat out lying about it. I, the last week I was there I had the privilege of, of presiding over the House. You know, [Speaker] John Boehner is there lots of times, but the rest of the day, uh, when, there’s certain times of day where you can go down and give a speech, a one minute speech and then they have a five minute speech session. So, that’s why if you ever, has anybody ever watched C-SPAN? Okay, if you see people speaking it looks like nobody else is there. It’s because nobody else is there. [laughter] They’re, they’re totally doing that just to speak, uh, to you, uh, from C-SPAN and to get on record, uh, their thoughts or whatever they want to share….

The charts from the Center for Budget Priorities and Policy (CBPP) and on Private Payroll Employment from 2008 to 2011 (White House) were not a part of Representative Hartzler’s (r) presentation and are used here to refute her statements.

Transcript of the remainder of Representative Hartzler’s town hall presentation and the question and answer session which followed will follow in subsequent posts.

The transcript as provided by the White House:

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

April 30, 2011

Weekly Address: Taxpayer Subsidies for Oil Companies are Neither Right, nor Smart, and They Should End

WASHINGTON – As oil and gas companies make tens of billions in profits and the government scours the budget for savings, President Obama called on Congress to stop handing them $4 billion annually in taxpayer subsidies. America’s oil production last year reached its highest level since 2003, but we need to invest in the energy of the future, instead of subsidizing the energy of the past.

Remarks of President Barack Obama

Weekly Address

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Washington, DC

After the worst recession since the Great Depression, our economy is growing again, and we’ve gained almost 2 million private sector jobs over the last 13 months. But I also know that a lot of folks aren’t feeling as positive as some of those statistics might suggest. It’s still too hard to find a job. And even if you have a job, chances are you’re having a tougher time paying the rising costs of everything from groceries to gas. In some places, gas is now more than $4 a gallon, meaning that you could be paying upwards of $50 or $60 to fill up your tank.

Of course, while rising gas prices mean real pain for our families at the pump, they also mean bigger profits for oil companies. This week, the largest oil companies announced that they’d made more than $25 billion in the first few months of 2011 – up about 30 percent from last year.

Now, I don’t have a problem with any company or industry being rewarded for their success. The incentive of healthy profits is what fuels entrepreneurialism and helps drives our economy forward. But I do have a problem with the unwarranted taxpayer subsidies we’ve been handing out to oil and gas companies – to the tune of $4 billion a year. When oil companies are making huge profits and you’re struggling at the pump, and we’re scouring the federal budget for spending we can afford to do without, these tax giveaways aren’t right. They aren’t smart. And we need to end them.

That’s why, earlier this week, I renewed my call to Congress to stop subsidizing the oil and gas industries.  Understand, I’m not opposed to producing oil. I believe that if we’re serious about meeting our energy challenge, we need to operate on all cylinders, and that means pursuing a broad range of energy policies, including safe and responsible oil production here at home. In fact, last year, America’s oil production reached its highest level since 2003.

But I also believe that instead of subsidizing yesterday’s energy, we should invest in tomorrow’s – and that’s what we’ve been doing. Already, we’ve seen how the investments we’re making in clean energy can lead to new jobs and new businesses. I’ve seen some of them myself – small businesses that are making the most of solar and wind power, and energy-efficient technologies; big companies that are making fuel-efficient cars and trucks part of their vehicle fleets. And to promote these kinds of vehicles, we implemented historic new fuel-economy standards, which could save you as much as $3,000 at the pump.

Now, I know that in this tough fiscal environment, it’s tempting for some in Washington to want to cut our investments in clean energy. And I absolutely agree that the only way we’ll be able to afford the things we need is if we cut the things we don’t, and live within our means. But I refuse to cut things like clean energy that will help America win the future by growing our economy and creating good-paying jobs; that will help make America more secure; and that will help clean up our planet in the process. An investment in clean energy today is an investment in a better tomorrow. And I think that’s an investment worth making. Thanks for listening, and have a great weekend.

Previously:

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): town hall in Harrisonville, Missouri – the reviews are in (April 29, 2011)

Representative Vicky Hartzler held a town hall in Blue Springs, in the 4th Congressional District, on Thursday evening in the gym at James Walker Elementary School. There were about forty-five people in attendance, with an additional fifteen individuals from the school, from Ms. Hartzler’s staff, and law enforcement.

Representative Hartzler entered the gym and personally greeted everyone seated in the audience before taking to the lectern to speak.

Representative Vicky Hartzler (r) greets constituents at her town hall in Blue Springs, Missouri.

The first part of the transcript:

Representative Vicky Hartzler (r): ….[applause] Well, thank you, thank you. That’s [….] and he’s a member of our team. I’ll introduce him again in a minute. But, uh, I just want to thank you guys for coming tonight. It’s such a beautiful evening. We haven’t had any sunshine, for what, four years now, or something, it seems like? [laughter] And so we finally had a sunny day and nice evening. You could be out mowing your grass or pulling weeds or whatever and you decided to come out and spend a little time with us tonight talking about our country and our situation and share, share with me some of your ideas on what we need to do turn things around and make it even better for our kids and grandkids and ourselves, too, as far as that goes. So, thank you for doing that. That means, uh, you guys are true patriots. And it’s very, very, very, very helpful to me. But, as I look around tonight I see a few familiar faces. One’s [….], I got to know him last couple of years and what a wonderful, bright young leader, now the councilman here, so, uh, glad you came [….]. And it’s good, uh, to, to see, others of you as well. I know I served with [….] in the House of Representatives when I was a state rep and so you’ve got a good, good mayor here. But, um, thank you for coming. I’m sorry I was running a few, uh, minutes late. We went to the other elementary school on Sunnyside Drive. You know there’s two, the one on that side. And we got all excited, there’s a lot of people there, too. It turns out they were all playing soccer with their kids. [laughter] So, wait a minute, we’re at the wrong elementary school, so we figured it out.

Anyway, well, uh, actually, you know, first, since I don’t know most of you guys I thought I’d take just a second to introduce myself ’cause, um, I hope we can become friends and, and, uh, you feel comfortable calling me if you have an idea or concern or something like that. But, uh, I was just sharing with the principal, and, first of all, I do want to thank you [….] . Thank you for letting us, uh, meet here in this school here. Let’s give the school district a hand. [applause] Thank you so much. But I just grew up, uh, you know, down the road in Cass County, so I’m really very close, uh, to here. It’s forty, forty-five minutes or something to get here. Uh, grew up on a farm, went to Archie and, uh, a very small school. But, uh, you know, went to MU to college. That’s a big school. And, uh, got my education degree, became a teacher, taught in Lebanon, Missouri my first year, which is in the fourth district. And then, uh, got married moved back home and taught another ten years at Belton, was a track coach. So, used to have track meets against Blue Springs. [inaudible] You guys, such a powerhouse in athletics. So,  I’m going to give you credit for that. And I do enjoy watching your football team, it’s fabulous. But, anyway, I’m sorry, getting off track. I’m a sports fan. Um, but my husband and I [inaudible], we farm as well. Just like us, uh, my family growing up, so we raise corn and soybeans and wheat, if ever we get it planted in the fall, if it’s not raining. Uh, we have, uh, some cows that we, uh, finish and, uh, and raise cow calf operation and we have some hogs. So, we’re just kind of a farm. But we also are small business owners. We own Hartzler Equipment Company. We have combines and, and lawn mowers and, anyway, stuff. We have three stores, one in Harrisonville, Nevada, and Lamar. Uh, so that’s kind of my background a little bit, basically agriculture, education, and small business. And so I need your help in all the other areas of [laughter] government and, and background. So that’s why, uh, I want to get to know you because I bet you guys, hi. [voice: “Howdy.”]  Thanks for coming. We just, getting started here. Uh, you all have a lot of expertise in your areas of, of places, how you grew up and the work you’ve had and things and, uh, so I welcome all your ideas, okay….

…What, uh, like […] said, we, we want to just have a discussion tonight. I wanted to share with you some facts that I learned about our budget first, ’cause that’s a big, uh, topic of discussion that we’re dealing with in Washington, D.C. And, uh, some of the information I have received is pretty, pretty sobering, uh, and I wanted you to know what these facts are so as you hear about us trying to rein in spending and making some, uh, tough decisions, but responsible decisions, I think you’ll kind of know where we’re coming from. Plus, I want your ideas on how to do it ’cause this isn’t, uh, usual and customary in D.C. to start talking about how to cut, how much less to spend instead of how much more to spend on things. So, I welcome your input in that.

Representative Vicky Hartzler and a staffer (right).

But, first, I did want to introduce our team because this is a staff that’s working for you. Uh, I work for you and they work for you and, uh, somebody said, what’s you team’s name gonna be? You gonna call yourself Vicky’s team or Hartzler team? I said, no, no way, I said, this is not about me, this is about us, Missouri fourth district. So we pondered on it a little bit and one night it came to me ’cause I like those license plates, you pull up behind a car and they’re always kind of coded and you’re like trying to figure out what does that mean? So, here it is. I wanted to show you. I think it’s in here. Is it in here? Yeah, it is. Okay. I took this out at noon in Harrisonville I was almost afraid somebody would snatch it ’cause it’s just so amazing. Well, anyway, so the name of our team is the Mo for you team. We’re the Missouri four and we’re here to do mo’ for you. So, anyway, I thought that was kind of clever. Well, anyway, all right. [laughter] So much for that. I’m glad I enjoyed it, right? [laughter]  Any way, the Mo for you team. This is [….] he’s originally from Harrisonville and, uh, he’s now my legislative director in, in D.C. and, uh, he’s a great, uh, young man. We got [….] and she is out of our Jefferson City office. We have four offices, one in Jefferson City, Harrisonville, um, Sedalia, and Lebanon. So probably the closest one to you if you personally are in the Harrisonville area or want to come visit with someone in person about an idea or issue you can, uh, come down to Harrisonville. But [….] is, you need to get to know her if you’re a veteran . She’s worked for Senator Bond for years and she’s kind of the expert in, uh, veteran’s issues. And so she’s got [whisper] the secret phone numbers. So, she knows who to call directly that can get, uh, a veteran, a health, if they’re getting a runaround with, uh, VA system or something. So, just curious, is there anybody here who’s a veteran? All right. [applause] Thank you. [inaudible] Thank you, each and every one of you, for your se
rvice. We, uh, we owe you a debt of gratitude we can’t repay as, as a nation. We really do. Uh, and so [….] is a good person to become friends with and get to know. And if you have these little cards please, uh, keep ’em handy. This is our phone numbers for the Jeff city office, that’s where [….] is at, uh, Lebanon and Harrisonville, um, as well as the web site and Twitter and Facebook. So, if you do that I’d like to invite you to follow me. The next person on our Mo for you team is [….], she’s our state director. She works in Jeff City, also.  But she is really good at, at helping, uh, people with, uh, getting the help they need and making those connections. So, h, we have [….], you already met him, he’s our press secretary. I do want to say, he helps me send out an e-mail every week and so, if you aren’t signed up yet please fill out the form here. Um, I really would like to commun, be able to communicate directly every week about what’s going on in the capitol and what I’m doing, uh, so you know and you can e-mail back and, with ideas or whatever, instead of just depending on whatever you’re hearing on the news. So, if you want to sign up, love to have you do that. And also, you probably, uh, since I was a few minutes late, already got this filled out, but if you have a concern or an idea, uh, if we run out of time asking questions and you want to, uh, just leave it we will, I will read ’em later and we’ll get back to you on that. And then, uh, [….] is the main person in our Harrisonville office. So, if you come visit you’ll probably see [….] and she’s there. She’s one of our caseworkers, too, and helps people. We got [….], she’s in and out of the Harrisonville office. She travels with me. She’s great. Got [….] from Lebanon office. And then we have [….] who is out of Jefferson City office and he’s an intern. And he’s, uh, helpin’ out on the Mo for you team and all this, so.

Anyway, that being said, does that sound like a good idea for tonight? I’d love to just, uh, share with you some facts about the budget and what we’ve been doing and then the last, uh, forty-five minutes or so just take your questions and see what you want to talk about. So, that sound like a plan? Okay.

Well, let’s try this. I’ve got a real nifty little gizmo here, see if we can do it. Okay. Well, this just shows that, uh, basically we’re spending a lot of money. More and more and more and more every year. I think everybody knows that. But this is one of the most telling slides, uh, that I ran across that I want to bring home and share with you. It shows where our, uh, in the budget, where the money goes. And so you’ve got the red is the non-defense discretionary and that’s what most people would consider  the federal government. In here is all the departments, Department of Education, Energy, uh, Transportation, Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security, if you had earmarks which this year we’ve banned earmarks, both in the House and the Senate, but they would be in there, foreign aid, most things that Congress debates every year and appropriates is only in this, this category and this category. This, of course, is defense. Um, I just wanted to say on defense that I have the honor of being appointed to serve on the Armed Services Committee. And I am just so privileged to get to sit on that committee and to be, to work on behalf of our men and women in uniform and their families and the veterans. Uh, I am concerned with the amount of money, as far as a percentage, in defense. It has gone down and down and down and down and down every year. And, uh, we’re spending less now on our defense than we were back in President Kennedy’s day, back in the sixties which I think is concerning. Uh, I knew there was a lot of threats in the world before I was on Armed Services Committee, now as I’m, even had to get to, privilege of sitting on classified hearings I can tell you what you all, we all probably know, but there are a lot of threats to us all around the world. A lot of our airplanes are over thirty years old. We’ve got some fifty years old. Um, we have the smallest fleet of Navy ships back some, from World War One. So, you know, I think if anything we need to be, uh, spending more money here, more percentage. Uh, I kind of organized an effort within the freshman class, there’s eighty-seven of us new ones, and most of us, we’re pretty like minded. We think we need to spend our money wisely and quit spending money we don’t have. But, several of us did, uh, send a letter to, uh, [Speaker] John Boehner and to the chairman, Paul Ryan, of our budget committee, saying, in this time, as we’re looking for cuts we think we need to cut, but, please remember to keep national defense as a priority. Because, according to the Constitution, we believe there’s only a few things that the federal government should be doing. And one of them is to provide for the common defense. So, I, I did want to just share with you kind of some efforts I’m doing to try to, uh, pro, defend defense. Then this is Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, interest on the debt, which is, of course, now interest rates are very low. Uh, so, this is concerning if interest rates go up very much it’s gonna be kind of like Pacman, do you remember that video game? Uh, I think this could grow and eat out more and more percentagewise of the budget, which is gonna squeeze out this area even more. This program they lump together, um, mandatory programs, those are ones where Congress past has voted on a bill that says, uh, if you meet certain guidelines then you’re entitled to, uh, some benefit. So that would be Pell Grants, farm subsidies, unemployment, food stamps, those type of things, so they, they just lump those all together there. But, pretty interesting.

Wait a minute, Social Security is funded by a trust fund which is solvent and funded by worker contributions.

Social Security does not contribute to the deficit. It is disingenuous in the extreme to even make an allusion that Social Security contributes to the deficit.

Okay, the next slide is very interesting, too. And this is very sobering in my opinion. It shows that of the three point eight trillion dollar budget only two point two trillion was what you and I sent in. basically the government is borrowing more than forty-two cents out of every dollar it spends. This is money last year that we did not have, uh, send in as tax payers so the government borrowed. So, think about it. Would we do this at home? Would we keep spending four, borrowing forty-two cents out of every dollar we spend? We don’t do that at home. Uh, and, um, we don’t do it in our businesses, we don’t do it on our farms, we don’t, you know, we, we tighten the belt. If we, uh, you know, spend a little too much, maybe on the credit card, get that bill and go, whoa, my goodness. Your, you tighten it up. You may not, uh, go by Starbucks so much or you might, do something else, hold off on buying a new pair of jeans or something. You, you tighten the belt. And so, I think Washington needs to tighten its belt ’cause this is unsustainable. If you go, uh, if I go back to this one, If you can kind of, we’ll be high tech here, can, if you overlay the green here with the programs it, it’s being spent you see that most of the money that you and I send in is being eaten up with the Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and interest and mandatory programs. See that. So, uh, one way to look at is that everything I consider, you consider, a lot of people consider government is being run on borrowed money. That’s pretty scary. You know, uh, the last two years as I was, uh, uh, out campaigning and stuff, welcome, here’s [inaudible] have to look over there, um, people would come with ideas and think, well, if we, let’s balance the budget, if we just got where, rid of waste fraud and abuse, let’s do that. I’m like, yeah, let’s do that. And say, well, let’s get r
id of earmarks. I’m like, yeah, that’s a good idea. Or, maybe we should get rid of, uh, you know, foreign aid, or, or, let’s eliminate the Department of Education [….] I heard that. Anyways, the federal one, not , you know, anyway these different ideas, and they sounded good, but I realize, this is what was sobering, is that you could totally mothball, based on, whoops, based on this. You see that? You could mothball all of Washington, D.C. and the national defense and still just barely balance the budget. Can you, you understand that? Now usually when I say we could mothball Washington, D.C. there’s a round of applause. So I was just, I was just waiting. [laughter] I wasn’t certain about that.  You know, this is, this is serious stuff, so it can’t be solved just by doing a few things. We’re gonna have to be bold and do a lots of things in order to get us back to fiscal soundness. Another way to look at it is that we’ve run out of money, uh, about July twenty-seventh and the rest of the year the government runs on borrowed money. Not good.

That’s just showing if you’ve eliminated earmarks, which we have, uh, but all foreign aid, you see the percentage there of how much of the pie we’ve safe. And, uh, so it, it may be right move or it may not, but it’s not gonna solve everything. Okay….

There were about forty-five people in attendance, with an additional fifteen individuals

from the school, from Ms. Hartzler’s staff, and law enforcement.

Transcript of the remainder of Representative Hartzler’s town hall presentation and the question and answer session which followed will follow in subsequent posts.

Good news.  A coalition of “diverse” groups is already formed and organized for the petition drive to fight back at a state legislature and governor that cavalierly overrules the vote of the people.  Prop B  is the fuel for this effort, but it’s about more than puppy mills. This legislature has been riding roughshod over not just the vote of the people but the citizens who come to testify at hearings as well.  Anyone who has sat in on one of the hearings this season will tell you how appallingly unprofessional and cartoonish the whole scene is.

I’ve already signed up to gather signatures.  I hope you do too.

We believe that rights of the voters and welfare of the dogs should not be compromised. A constitutional amendment is being put forward here in Missouri to protect the voters’ voice from being overturned by lawmakers and the governor in such a blatant way in the future. If you would like to help gather signatures for this constitutional amendment or help in other ways to ensure its success, please go to http://www.protectvoters.com.

Good news for all of us who are sad and angry at what our governor and legislature did to our citizen initiative law that passed in November.  Despite a majority vote of the people, a handful of Big Ag-dependent legislators took it upon themselves to repeal our vote.  Using lies and confusion, they convinced a bunch of Missourians, mostly in rural districts where people are used to being told how to think, that raising standards at dog breeding operations will force Missourians to become vegans.  

But this fight is not over.  The ASPCA just announced that it is reviewing the actions of the governor and legislature to determine what our next step will be.

Stay tuned.  Prop B is not dead.

Anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis knows that I’m on a tear about how Missouri’s Democratic Senator McCaskill is undercutting progressive goals with her deficit peacockery – a term coined by The Center for American Progress to describe politicians who strut their deficit stuff instead of supporting serious economic solutions. It’s bad enough that McCaskill legitimizes arguable GOP claims about the need to prioritize the deficit during a recession, but she has gone much further and teamed up with Tennessee’s GOP Senator Bob Corker to propose spending caps that have been widely characterized, among other pejoratives, as “insane.”

Insanity like McCaskill-Corker may yet do in the Democratic party as a viable alternative to the know-nothing GOP. Today, we read that a small cabal of Democratic Senators may join up with Republicans who are willing to risk financial catastrophe in order to force budget cuts – cuts so harmful that they can only be secured by taking the nation’s economy hostage. McCaskill’s name is, so far, not publicly included on the list of Democratic quislings who want to trade budget cuts for raising the debt ceiling, but the irresponsible McCaskill-Corker spending cap is widely seen as the potential price that may be exacted.  

Do Democrats really want to highlight the difference between themselves and the Grand Old Plutocrats in 2012? Good luck with that as long as Democrats like McCaskill and her cabal are pushing for a spending cap that would inevitably necessitate cuts to Medicare and Social Security that could make the GOP look like pikers. As economist Jeffry Sachs notes, “the current budget negotiations have been a dialogue among the wealthy. The big debate has focused on which programs for the poor should be axed first.” Unfortunately, Democrats like McCaskill have completely bought into that perennial GOP framework.

The tragedy is that McCaskill’s type of deficit preening is unnecessary – she can still swan around gassing about fiscal responsibility, but without selling out her Democratic values. The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) has proposed a budget that, as Paul Krugman describes it, is “is actually much more of a real response to the deficit worriers than all the nonsense we’re hearing from the right.”

The CPC budget would balance the budget in 10 years without inflicting the harm to our public and social infrastructure that is inherent in McCaskill-Corker. It is, in Sachs words, “humane, responsible, and most of all sensible, reflecting the true values of the American people and the real needs of the floundering economy.” It provides for the type of investment that we need to return to prosperity. Instead, to our shame, Democrats like McCaskill are putting forward unbalanced, draconian solutions to meet a nonexistent crisis – there is a potential deficit problem in the future if the economic recovery fails, but there is no looming deficit crisis. Sadly, simplistic solutions like McCaskill-Corker have the potential to stall the economic recovery, perhaps even increase the deficit, all the while creating a world of hurt for the American people.

The question is, if McCaskill is both a real Democrat and serious about deficit reduction, why isn’t she out beating the hustings trying to sell the CPC budget or something similar instead of buoying up the GOP narrative? She could get all the deficit-fighting glory she thinks she needs, while standing up for core Democratic values – values she claims to support.  She’d be doing the right thing and the base would love her – as well as a potentially big chunk of those independents – and even some Republicans – who think that we ought to raise taxes on the wealthy before we cut benefits to working and middle class taxpayers.

But of course, such logic ignores the premise behind the peacock label – which, to my mind, has something to do with the way that peacocks and pea-brains go together.

Addendum:  Read this report where McCaskill, speaking about Medicare and Social Security, says:

Rest assured, I, along with a lot of my Democratic colleagues in the United States Senate, are not interested in destroying Medicare as we know it and not interested in going back on our word in terms of what senior citizens can expect from Social Security

Then read this analysis of the McCaskill-Corker spending cuts, prepared by the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities, and tell me if McCaskill is trying to pull somebody’s leg – or does she just not understand what happens down the road if her own proposal is implemented?  

This is the last paragraph of a piece by a blogger on Daily Kos titled “US Supreme Court Blocks Consumer Access to Courts.”

The Supreme Court has given corporations yet another victory in their quest to utterly dominate the people of the United States. Today is a truly sad day for consumers – all of us – the People of the United States of America.

The writer says it very well. The goal is to utterly dominate us. Last night (Wed.) at West Co Dems movie night, we watched “Inside Job” about how it was possible for banks and other financial institutions to gamble away billions of our dollars and bring about the collapse of the worldwide economy. Every middle class American should see this film. I’m going to buy a copy and give it to my state rep, a young Republican who insists that government’s main job is to “protect our freedoms.” But, evidently, that protection doesn’t extend to protecting our assets which support our ability to be free of homelessness and starvation.

In the recent edition of AARP Bulletin is the story of Mickey Rooney (now age 90) and how he lost all his wealth because people he trusted to manage his finances gambled it away. He testified before Congress to warn the rest of us. There is such a thing as Elder Abuse Law, and it is illegal for people to swindle us out of our life savings – unless they work for Wall Street.

“Inside Job” goes back to the 1980’s and the beginning of the deregulation of banks and other financial institutions. It traces the main actors in this dismantling of the protections we used to have and follows them right up to today. I guess it’s no surprise to anyone who pays attention, but the foxes are still guarding the hen house and getting really fat from eating our chickens.

Get a copy of “Inside Job” and invite some friends over for a drink. Believe me, you are really going to want a drink after you see how we’ve been robbed. Corporate power now controls many of the university departments that used to side with the general population. They’ve bought up the media outlets and are trying to starve the few independent/public media enterprises to the point of putting them out of business. (Note to myself: double donation to PBS and NPR this year.)

After the movie, we discussed among ourselves what we can do to stop the dictatorship of vampire capitalism. One usually mild-mannered member said “reform” is not enough and that we need a “revolution.” I agree. So let’s get organized in small groups locally, sponsor rallies, march in parades and do everything we can to wake people up. It may be a hopeless cause at this point, but at least we’ll go down swinging.

The next meeting of the Progressive Dems of St. Louis will be May 7 at 3 p.m. at the main library (corner of Clayton and Lindbergh Rds.) Guests will be from the two teacher organizations, NEA and AFT. Please come and sign up to join the revolution.

(I think I hear Les Mis music in the background !!)

Representative Vicky Hartzler (r) held a series of town halls in the 4th Congressional District this past week (we attended one last night in Blue Springs – more on that in subsequent posts). At noon yesterday she held a town hall in Harrisonville, Missouri, an area which she previously represented in the 124th Legislative District of the Missouri House. There were a couple of reviews of this Harrisonville town hall via social media, distributed by individuals in attendance:

Vicky Town Hall/Love Fest a Joke

[….]on Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 2:47pm

Wasted more than an hour of my day this afternoon at the Vicky Town Hall/Love Fest in Harrisonville. Nothing but pablum talking points and double-speak. The only people allowed to ask questions were those she knew on a first-name basis. Heaven forbid anyone should not be full onboard with the Vicky love fest. If anyone groaned or mumbled loudly in disagreement, they immediately got a police officer standing over their shoulder. She even contradicted herself so many times, I had to laugh. She’d take an easy question then take 10 minutes to answer because she really didn’t want to answer any. 95% were over 65. I bet if she told them she was going to change their Medicare & Social Security, it would have been a totally different scenario. Of course it wouldn’t effect them so what do they care. It was nothing but a JOKE!

Some of the comments:

OH – big surprise! 12 hours ago

Was therre also, what a waste. Cops stood behind me the whole time. 12 hours ago

My favorite question was could she do something to get more handicap spaces at Walmart. 12 hours ago

[….] that could well be a very important point. 11 hours ago

[….] that was probably the hardest question she took. 11 hours ago

And, another review:

She’s coming to your town

You are a rag tag group of people who don’t live in Cass County, home of the celebrated MS Hartzler. I saw her today, just “a couple miles from [her] house”, and let me tell you what to expect when she visits you. Vicky has been given a handful of slides which, if you examine them, are inaccurate and confusing on purpose. I bet Glen Beck made them up.

She will tell you that everyone “over 55” will keep the same Medicare and Social Security you have now; “Nothing will Change.” And, then she goes on to explain that if you are under 54, you will be able to buy into a range of plans, the same ones that the Congress can buy into. First of all, they don’t BUY shit – it is given to them. Second of all, isn’t that the same “single payer” plan we all wanted to begin with? But wait, what she doesn’t tell you about the Ryan Budget plan is that Social Security is kaput and you get a voucher for your health care – not the actual health care.

I have a list of questions we made up to ask but she only called those lucky 10 people who were 1) someone she knew from church or 2) was a friend of the family, or 3) was well over 55. The only way we could have asked questions was from the back of a police car (there were 2 uniformed officers and the sheriff standing around. One of the officers stood behind our Democratic Committee Chairman for the duration).

Some other highlights of the visit:

She would vote against all foreign aid but Israel is included in the package and she can’t stop herself from helping Israel. She is trying to sponsor legislation that would pull them out of the “foreign aid package” (no such animal).

She was unaware that people pulling money out of 401k’s when they are unemployed were having to pay a penalty and she will get back to us on that one.

She isn’t aware of any base closings this year. She talked for 10 minutes on that one and since the slide show took up 30 minutes we only had 20 minutes for all other questions.

She agreed with the fellow who thinks that all Corporate taxes should be eliminated and that everyone else should only have to pay 25% flat rate. I don’t know exactly who everyone else is.

Oil companies subsidies are too complicated to even think about. Her staffer handled that one and he did a good job of completely making everyone in the room believe it.

She suggested the gentleman complaining about handicapped parking at Walmart talk to the Mayor.

So I have attached my questions. I am sending them out into the world and if Vicky Hartzler dog and pony show comes to your town, be sure you don’t miss it. By the way, Show me Progress Blog will have a posting I can’t wait to see tomorrow because she had another gig in Jackson County (Blue Springs) tonight we could not go to. It wasn’t in her back yard and I am hoping she had some new hounds at her heels. Check it out.

The unanswered questions:

Health insurance for a family of four now costs somewhere between $12,000 and $14,000 per year with future increases above 8% per year.  What plan or program do you support to help middle class families pay for their health insurance?

Congressman Ryan has a budget plan to replace Medicare with vouchers.  The vouchers don’t do anything to keep the cost of health care from growing and don’t promise to cover those costs to Medicare users.  Won’t this system cripple the elderly who only have Social Security retirement income and Medicare to live on?

We went from 250 billion surpluses in 2000 to 1.6 trillion deficits by 2009.  How many cuts in Medicare and Social Security will be required to pay for all of that?

The new Republican budget plan you voted for cuts programs for the poor and middle class – Medicare and Medicaid and many others.  It also includes a cut in taxes for the wealthiest people in the country.  Do you think it is right to give tax cuts to the wealthy and force the poor and middle class to pay for those cuts?

I have read that by removing the Social Security caps on income over $250, 000 my great-grandchildren could be assured of having Social Security in their golden years.  Why doesn’t everyone pay the same share of Social Security tax?

Currently, estate taxes are paid only on estates worth over 5 million dollars at a rate of 35%.  Most estates are structured to avoid paying any taxes.  Are you concerned that eliminating the estate tax may create families that are permanently wealthy because those children were born rich?  (or – won the ovarian lottery)

You support the repeal of the Health Care Reform Act passed in 2010.  Doing so will allow health insurance companies to go back to denying coverage based on “pre-existing conditions.” Do you think health insurance companies should be allowed to deny coverage?

You’ve pledged to Americans for Tax Reform that you will never support any increase in taxes.  We are now looking for budget cuts in things like roads, fire and police protection, and public schools and community services.   Is there any function that government performs that you think should be preserved or improved rather than being cut again and how can you do that without breaking your pledge?

In 2008, the economy faced the prospect of a complete meltdown, primarily caused by leveraged investments by hedge funds, the largest commercial banks and insurance companies.  Faced with a meltdown, President Bush, and Hank Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury, told Congress bailouts were necessary to avoid a depression.  Do you believe the decision to bail out the hedge funds, commercial banks and insurance companies was the right thing to do?  If so, how much do those bailouts add to our current deficit?

Wealthy farmers are paid by the Federal Government to cover losses caused by bad weather and are also paid not to grow crops.  Your husband’s farm and our South County Commissioner, Bill Cook, receive those types of payments.  Do you favor making cuts in farm subsidies to large-scale farming operations like your own in order to help balance the budget?

I have heard that once again, Missouri might be interested
in raising taxes on gasoline.  Doesn’t it make more sense to end tax subsidies for big oil companies rather than make citizens pay more for gas in order to raise revenues?

Those are really good questions.

Yesterday, in the New York Times:

Editorial

A Certificate of Embarrassment

Published: April 27, 2011

….the birther question was never really about citizenship; it was simply a proxy for those who never accepted the president’s legitimacy, for a toxic mix of reasons involving ideology, deep political anger and, most insidious of all, race….

….mainstream Republican leaders allowed it to simmer to satisfy those who are inflamed by Mr. Obama’s presence in the White House….

….That signal was clearly received. Lawmakers in nearly a dozen states introduced bills requiring presidential candidates to release their full birth certificates.

It is inconceivable that this campaign to portray Mr. Obama as the insidious “other” would have been conducted against a white president…

Go. Read the whole thing.

Almost seven years ago:

Thursday, September 16, 2004 – Page updated at 12:00 A.M.

Amendment would drop requirement that president be U.S.-born

By Jim Puzzanghera

Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON – Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, an Orange County, Calif., Republican and longtime friend of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, introduced a constitutional amendment yesterday to allow foreign-born Americans who have been citizens for 20 years to run for president….

What’s the difference for birthers?

Previously:

President Obama (D): The American President speech (April 27, 2011)

Where to start? – part 2 (December 1, 2010)

…ergo propter wingnut (October 28, 2009)

Your “mainstream” Missouri republican party in action: birthers! (June 30, 2009)

Do the sponsors of HJR34 believe in anti-Obama conspiracy theories? (March 4, 2009)

Birther Infomercial runs in Springfield (September 25, 2009)

You get the picture. There’s plenty more.