Roanoke Tea Party

(This excellent analysis of these 2 votes was done by the RTP VP Greg Honeycutt. We will need to be more cognizant of the votes of Congressmen Griffith as the coming Congressional redistricting will likely move some of the current 6th District into the the 9th Congressional district. It should be noted that Congressman Goodlatte voted yes on both of these bills.)

Let’s take a few moments to recognize Virginia’s 9th District Congressman, Morgan Griffith for a pair of key votes cast in the House recently that may have some of us jumping for joy and others scratching our heads.

Last week, Cong. Griffith cast a “Nay” vote on HR 2417. This was a piece of legislation that in part, would have repealed the portions of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which contains the now infamous phasing out and ban of the incandescent light bulb. On the surface, that would seem to be something to be celebrated by Tea Partiers everywhere. Wrong. Though it is true, from our perspective at least, that the Federal Government had no authority to institute such a ban in the first place, Congressman Griffith took exception to the notion that the Federal Government could prohibit the States from such activity, and released a statement saying: “Unfortunately, the bill before the House tonight, H.R. 2417, not only repeals that law, but goes further and prohibits state action regarding traditional light bulbs. While I think it would be bad public policy for a state to ban traditional light bulbs, I recognize states retained that right and many others under the 10th Amendment of the United States Constitution. The Constitution, in my opinion, does not give Congress the right to prohibit states from banning the use of lighting products within the confines of the respective state, and I accordingly voted no.”

The Congressman embraced the 10th Amendment, and has instead opted to support, and co-sponsor a straight repeal of the law through HR 91. Absolutely uncommon.

Many, if not all of us have been consumed with following the current issue on whether or not to raise the nation’s debt ceiling on or before August 2nd. There are several plans afloat, and even more rumors and misinformation. Last night, the U.S. House of Representatives voted on HR 2560, the so-called Cut, Cap & Balance Act of 2011, touted by some in the media as a “tea party-backed plan”. At issue; In exchange for raising the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion dollars, spending would be Cut by $111 billion in Fiscal Year 2012 and around $5.8 trillion over ten years, spending would be Capped at below 20% of GDP, and finally Balance which would require passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment through Congress and sent to the States for ratification before approving any increase of the debt ceiling. As expected, the CC&B Act passed by a vote of 234-190 late yesterday evening. Congressman Griffith joined eight other Republicans and voted “Nay”. Are you scratching your head? His statement explains:

“I support the general goal of cut, cap, and balance, and I appreciate House leadership bringing this concept to the floor for a vote. However, to keep my commitments made to my constituents, I cannot support raising the debt ceiling without significant cuts and a substantial change to the way Washington spends taxpayer dollars. The Balanced Budget Amendment, if passed by the House and Senate and then by the States, would substantially change the way Washington spends money, but I have repeatedly stated that year one cuts must be more than $100-200 billion. While I realize House leadership has to work with a President who is late coming to the discussion, and who is not reasonable about the seriousness of the debt and deficit problem in this country, I could not turn my back on commitments made to my constituents. This plan would reduce spending by $111 billion next year. With the budget deficit this year predicted to reach nearly $1.5 trillion and a debt that has ballooned from $10.6 trillion just two years ago to $14.3 trillion now, we must cut more.”

Some of us may like the several provisions within the CC&B Act; some of us will embrace portions of the forthcoming “Gang of Six” proposals in the Senate. Indeed, they are not all bad, and it’s difficult to argue it’s not a at least a small step in the right direction towards long-term financial stability. The thing is; we’re $14.3 trillion away from that goal, (soon to be $2.4 trillion more) and small steps the right direction just doesn’t cut it. Simply put, it would be too little, too late. Roanoke Tea Party’s position has always been that out-of-control, borrow-and-spend tactics prevalent in Washington are totally unacceptable, regardless of which party controls what House of Congress, or which party resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Raising the debt ceiling is simply a non-starter. Stop Spending Money We Don’t Have.

We sent Congressman Griffith to Washington to draw a line on our principles of constitutionality and fiscal responsibility, and to hold that line. On these issues of constitutionality, and fiscal responsibility, and with these two “Nay” votes, he has done exactly that. Often, that kind of stand is unpopular amongst the party bosses, and it comes at a political cost. Please take some time in the next few days to contact the Congressman. He took a stand on some issues we care deeply about this past week.

His office phone numbers are:

Washington Office – (202) 225-3861

Abingdon Office – (276) 525-1405

Christiansburg Office – (540) 381-5671

In Liberty,

Gregory Honeycutt

Vice-President

Roanoke Tea Party