Hartzler: Unchecked borrowing and spending hurting our jobs outlook

In her weekly newsletter, Fourth District Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler offers some thoughts on our nation's economic problems:

The question of raising our national debt took center stage this week as the House resoundingly voted “no” to President Obama’s proposal to increase our debt without any agreement on real, permanent, and sustainable spending cuts. My “no” vote is a stand for the American taxpayer who is being asked to pay the interest on unchecked borrowing and spending. The debt limit has already been raised three times since President Obama took office – up to an astounding $14.3 trillion! Other countries now hold 47 percent of our debt, with China holding 29.2 percent of that debt. This has got to be stopped.


Our current financial situation is a reflection of runaway spending by past Congresses and especially during the past two years under President Obama’s leadership. Our credit cards have been maxed out and we are now being asked to increase the credit limit without cutting up the credit cards. That’s wrong! To avert a financial crisis everyone must come to the realization that now is the time to make the smart, hard choices to cut spending and make government more efficient and effective.

The day after the historic debt ceiling vote, I was among a group of GOP Members of Congress invited to come to the White House and have a discussion with the President about our desire to reduce our nation’s deficit and create jobs. It was made clear to the President that the status quo is not acceptable and that he must take a leadership role in stopping the out-of-control spending. With our country more than $14 trillion in debt it is imperative that we reverse course now. As Missouri families, we can’t spend money we don’t have. Washington shouldn’t either.

Unchecked borrowing and spending, coupled with government mandates on business, are further hurting our jobs outlook because of the resulting uncertainty. That uncertainty is preventing our entrepreneurs from doing what they do best – prosper and create jobs. We saw some numbers this week that are certainly cause for concern. We saw one disappointing statistic showing the private sector created only 38,000 jobs last month – much fewer than expected. Another figure showed the number of unemployment claims fell less than expected last week. Clearly, our economy remains sluggish and was NOT turned around by the trillion dollar stimulus package that can best be described as a failure. We have recorded 27 straight months of unemployment at or above eight percent. There is no way that can be termed a success. The House job creation plan is an alternative that aims to empower small business owners and to reduce regulatory burdens. It can be found at: www.jobs.gop.gov.

I was privileged, this week, to sign the Declaration to End Gendercide – the first step to ending a shocking tragedy that’s impacting our world. Gendercide is the only recently acknowledged practice of the systematic elimination of some little girls that is occurring in China, India, and other parts of the world. According to the March 10, 2010 cover story in The Economist magazine, at least 100 million baby girls have disappeared as a result of selective abortion or murder of baby girls in some cultures that value boy babies over girl babies. This is resulting in major economic and societal ramifications and is a shocking affront to basic human rights. Signers of the Declaration – a wide spectrum of people on the left and the right – call on all parents to welcome and protect girls at all stages of their lives, request that all communities value the lives and potential of girls and women, and ask that the governments of China and India enact laws to protect girls and to enforce laws that change the culture that denies women and girls the right to life.