Deceitful Steve Scalise

I got a letter from Rep Steve Scalise today, maybe you did too. Here is an excerpt:

"As you may know, the House of Representatives recently passed a measure that would raise the debt ceiling. While this legislation included some reductions in federal spending, the cuts were simply not enough to get my vote for the final bill. Unfortunately this debt ceiling deal did not do enough to reverse the reckless Washington spending spree that has been accelerated by President Obama. The President has implemented an extreme tax, spend, and borrow agenda that has crippled our economy, and now, under President Obama’s watch, caused the U.S. to have our credit rating downgraded for the first time in American history."

You must know that the President cannot raise taxes, nor can he cut taxes--only the Congress (specifically the House) can do that. Taxes have decreased under the current Administration to the lowest level in more than 50 years. As for the debt ceiling, that is paying for money already spent by Congress, by Scalise and his colleagues! 

And the downgrading of our credit rating was entirely the fault of the House threatening to default on debt payments.

I can forgive the Congressman's equating a family's need to balance their budget with that of the US government because economics are hard to understand. But surely he has a staffer who studied the subject and knows that the Federal Budget does not now nor has it ever functioned like a family's budget. That same staffer knows that nearly every family above the poverty level carries a huge amount of debt and most could not get by without the ability to spend what they do not have. Just think of mortgages, car loans, and credit cards.

It is time to be honest with the American people.