The passage of the debt limit bill and the immediate jacking of the national debt ($239 billion-a one day record) has been a bitter pill to swallow.  Tea Party efforts to curtail runaway government spending fell far short of the mark as a "grand compromise" was hewn out of smoke and mirrors.  Although the MSM quickly declared victory for the Tea Party we searched in vain for actual spending cuts and came to the conclusion that we were duped yet again.

The next battle for our nation's future is already taking shape.  From The Hill:

In a letter sent Wednesday to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a group of six GOP senators requested that the supercommittee meetings not take place "behind closed doors."

 

The letter asks that Reid and McConnell, who each will appoint three members of the Senate to the 12-member committee, see that all meetings of the deficit-reduction committee "are done in a transparent manner through advanced public notifications, public attendance and live television broadcasts."

 

Sens. Dean Heller (Nev.), David Vitter (La.), Mike Lee (Utah), John Boozman (Ark.), Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), and Ron Johnson (Wis.) signed the letter.

 

On Thursday, Republican Rep. Vern Buchanan (Fla.) announced he would introduce similar legislation in the House.  "Too much is at stake to allow this 12-member committee to make critical decisions about the country's future behind closed doors," Buchanan said in a statement.

 

Congressional and Senate leaders will have until August 16 to appoint 12 of their members to the supercommittee.  The 12 members will be divided evenly between Republicans and Democrats of the House and Senate.  The supercommittee will have the responsibility to create a $1.5 trillion deficit reduction package to be brought before Congress prior to Thanksgiving. 

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson voted against the debt limit bill and is opposed to the concentration of so much authority in the hands of the 12-member supercommittee.  Senator Johnson said "The lease we should expect is for that committee to do its business in the open."

In their letter, the six GOP senators wrote that they were "united in [their] concern about the authority granted to this committee."

 

"If our colleagues wish to raise taxes or propose spending cuts, the American people have a right to see that process unfold," they wrote.

 

Vitter this week also introduced the Super Committee Sunshine Act, a bill designed to force appointed members of the supercommittee to disclose campaign donations of more than $1,000 they receive while serving on the panel. 

If the work of the supercommittee is to be brought into the public eye it will require the concerted effort of each one of us to demand that our elected representatives support the GOP initiative requiring full transparency.  Phone, fax, write and email your senators and congressman or congresswoman to demand transparency.  We the people "have a right to see that process unfold."   The future of our country is at stake!

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.  We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream.  It must be fought for, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.  -Ronald Reagan

Phone, fax, write and email today and every day until this battle is won and our elected leaders understand their responsibility to act with "the consent of the governed."

August 5, 2011

paboehmke@yahoo.com