By Congressman Joe PittsWe just passed the 100 day mark in President Obama's Administration. This marker has become a milestone by which to reflect on the tone set by a new Administration. President Obama won the White House promising to bring change to Washington. He and his Democratic colleagues, who control both houses of Congress, promised to end "politics as usual." The President promised to reach out to Republicans and work with us when possible. I said from the very beginning I looked forward to working with the him on ways to move our country forward.
Unfortunately, the "change" has been more of the same. The partisanship in Washington is every bit as bad as it has ever been, if not worse. And the President, along with Senator Harry Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have essentially shut us out of the policy making process, forcing a take-it-or-leave-it approach to law making. This lop-sided approach has been used to pass policies that tax, spend, and borrow too much; make our nation less safe; violate the conscience of pro-life Americans; expand government; and nationalize our industries.
I am saddened that these first hundred days have seen very little in the way of compromise from either the White House or my colleagues on Capitol Hill. There have been too many missteps, broken promises, and misplaced priorities during these first hundred days.
President Obama promised during his campaign he would not hire lobbyists to serve in his administration and then proceeded to appoint 17 during his first two weeks.
The President ordered Guantanamo Bay closed without laying out any plans for what to do with the terrorist suspects held there. He also released classified CIA memos explaining to our enemies our interrogation techniques and demoralizing our intelligence community.
Democrats in Congress passed legislation, which the President signed, that will shut down a popular school choice program in the District of Columbia that serves poor children in otherwise dangerous and failing schools, even though the President and many Members of Congress choose to send their own children to private schools.
President Obama has said, regarding abortion, that no matter what our views on the issue, "we must work to find common ground." Yet, during his first 100 days in office, his policies mean controversial abortion groups will be eligible for international family planning money; life-destroying research will be eligible for more of the taxpayer's dollars; medical professionals' right to practice according to their conscience will be under threat; and contentious organizations like Planned Parenthood will be granted hard-working American tax dollars.
Then there is the taxing, spending, and borrowing, where the numbers are absolutely staggering. President Obama and this Congress make the Bush deficits they railed against look trivial in comparison.
This Congress has saddled our children and grandchildren with debt, mortgaging their future. Since the first of the year, they have authorized $350 billion in TARP, tens of billions of dollar bailouts to failing automakers, $787 billion in stimulus, $410 billion in omnibus appropriations, and a recently passed $3.5 trillion budget. Most of this money is borrowed.
The omnibus spending bill contained over 8,000 earmarks. The President signed the bill on the same day he held a press conference to discuss reforming and getting tough on earmarks.
The President and Democrats in Congress have proposed a cap and trade plan that would amount to a trillion dollar tax on the American people for going about their daily lives. This plan amounts to a wealth transfer program from American families to government bureaucrats. The President has proposed using the money not on developing new energy technologies, but on government-run healthcare.
The President and Congress took advantage of the economic crisis by larding the stimulus with long-frustrated liberal policies including establishing a Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research to start our country down the path to government run healthcare where bureaucrats will ration health care and dictate what treatments you may receive.
Then, in a public relations move, the President convened a cabinet meeting and asked his cabinet secretaries to find $100 million in savings in the federal budget, an amount equal to 0.0025 percent of the President's proposed budget. Or, put another way, this amount is just three years worth of salary for the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez.
I will continue looking for ways to work with the President and my colleagues in Congress for the betterment of our country, but these first hundred days have not set a good tone for the rest of President Obama's Administration.
