Congressman George Miller (D-Seventh District) issued the following statement Tuesday regarding the vote on the “Fiscal Cliff” budget deal:
"Tonight in Congress the important art of compromise was revived, an art that had been stifled since the Tea Party took over the House two years ago. I voted for the bi-partisan compromise fiscal cliff agreement to prevent a tax hike on the middle class, to increase tax rates on the wealthiest, and to continue unemployment insurance, tax credits for low-income families and small businesses, and investments in renewable energy. Not a perfect deal, clearly, but a solid agreement that paves the way for important, although, difficult decisions in the next few months ahead."
Our political leaders and I use that term with lots of disrespect, should be focusing in cutting spending rather than the income side of the equation. Obama spends another 10 million flying to Hawaii again . This is his great example of how to save money in Washington. Miller is a politician who could not make it in the real world. I really can not understand the left coast voting these bums back in. I guess they like the gravy train that Washington gives them.
It's sad that opinions such as yours always leave out boondoggles such as fighter jets even the military doesn't want. Just one such fighter jet easily costs more than all the presidential travel of Obama's several years put together.
You might have noticed that the President is never really off duty -- particularly this one, and Presidents Clinton and Carter. The nature of the office is 24/7 responsibility. In my lifetime, JFK was assassinated and Reagan was seriously injured in an attempt; and so security is extremely important to the nation. National security, and the need for the President to be ready to act at any moment, are reasons why flying commercial is not exactly viable. As Christopher points out, sure -- there are places to cut unnecessary costs. But no rational business would focus only on cost-cutting and not on collecting reasonable revenue. Taxes were cut to the point of record lows, particularly for the very wealthy and for corporate interests -- and even after we engaged in these long wars, taxes that would have brought needed revenue continued to be cut; that is actually the major reason we have deficits now.
If they had not, virtually all ordinary citizens would have seen their tax rates spike immediately. Unemployment insurance would have run out for those seeking jobs. And the draconian "sequestration" measures would have become law immediately, with widespread consequences. The country would have been pitched into a real recession, and there would be a great deal of chaos. So, Rep. Miller's remarks are not exactly controversial. He assigns some blame for the difficulty in finding compromise these last two years; but that does not seem unfair criticism. In the end, enough representatives thought about the immediate impacts on ordinary citizens to come to an agreement.
Answer: If you have a 12 inch top-to-bottom monitor like me it's almost 313 miles under the Earth's surface. You are gonna need a better plan than cutting presidential travel to make a difference.