Senator Ayotte on the subject of debt and spending.

By on January 18, 2013 in

I recently wrote to our junior senator, Kelly Ayotte, and asked if she agreed with Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska that Congress must raise the debt ceiling and pay the bills that it has obligated itself to pay.  Today, I received a long rather wordy reply about all the great things she has done in her two years in Congress:

“When I came to the Senate, I knew Congress was broken.  However, nothing could have prepared me for the absurd level of government dysfunction I have witnessed during the first two years of my term.  Most Americans would be surprised to learn that the president is about to miss – for the fourth time – the statutory deadline to submit his budget proposal.  Many would also be surprised to learn that the Senate majority has refused to pass a statutorily required budget resolution for the past three years and is poised not to pass a budget for a fourth consecutive year.  And last year, the Senate did not pass a single one of its twelve annual appropriations bills, and has regularly relied on a series of short-term continuing resolutions and pork-filled omnibus spending packages to fund the government.  Put simply, this is no way to run a government or to get our nation’s spending under control.”

She continues:

“No effort to address our fiscal crisis can be taken seriously unless it includes structural reforms to preserve entitlements, which represent the primary drivers of America’s long-term, runaway debt.  In fact, the non-partisan trustees in charge of Medicare and Social Security say that the programs are headed for insolvency as early as 2024 and 2033, respectively.  Seniors like my grandparents depend on Medicare and Social Security for a dignified retirement.  It is up to us to ensure that these programs are there for future beneficiaries, and we can reform these programs without impacting current beneficiaries or those nearing retirement.  One thing is clear: doing nothing is not an option.”

As a rightwing Republican Tea Party favorite, I find it hard to believe that Ms. Ayotte has any interest in protecting Medicare and Social Security, since the majority of Republicans want to see these programs end.  In her two years in Congress, she has had  her picture taken with some of the most extreme members of her party, which makes me think she is definitely one of them.  She never answers the question I posed.  Can this opportunistic  woman be trusted?

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  • BobRobertson

    It’s been my experience reading Republican rhetoric that, once a program is in place, they’re all for keeping it. Looked what the Republican party did to Ron Paul when he suggested making Social Security “opt out” to reduce the number of people who would get benefits.

    At the same time, the response to his statement that the Civil Rights Act went too far in violating private property, got serious boos and jeers from the “conservatives”.

    Seriously, I think you would find, if you asked Republican politicians, that almost none of them would scrap SS or Medicare. They know just how many votes those programs get.

    • RealNRH

      Oh yeah, that’s why so many of them voted for the Ryan budget and are so gung-ho about the Republican efforts to replace Medicare with block grants or with Vouchercare. They want to scrap Social Security and Medicare; a dwindling minority of them just don’t want to be SEEN scrapping Social Security and Medicare.

      • BobRobertson

        Considering just what was IN the “Ryan budget”, rather than what was said about it, your comment is demonstrably false.

    • hannah

      Counting dollars and votes is equally useless. There is no relationship between quantity and quality, just as measuring one’s waist makes it neither larger or smaller. However, compared to a babe’s it is definitely larger. Relative size is what’s important and useful.
      Perhaps people, who don’t get relationships because they can’t see them, don’t understand what relative means. Of course, if they don’t get relationships, they probably don’t understand what social means, either.
      Funny that, Walmart calling its employees “associates,” as if they were accumulates of random entities, brought together in a group — like the filings at a magnet’s pole. I suppose one could say it’s a mechanistic point of view, but a machine is made up of related parts. Walmart’s associates are cogs without a machine.

  • hannah

    Indeed, Kelly Ayotte’s grandparents have to depend on Social Security because they certainly can’t depend on her. Would you want Kelly bringing you breakfast and wiping your bum?
    Would you want Kelly even hiring the nurse? She who can’t tell the difference between a pig and a bank?

  • Ref

    Welcome to another session of “Simple Answers To Simple Questions.” No.