Washington’s
New Year’s Resolutions brought to you by
We know the drill. Make a resolution. Break it three months later. Or two. Or one. But we don’t have the nation’s economy riding on our resilience. Here are six resolutions that Washington must keep next year to put the country back on a firmer fiscal foundation.
1 Trim the Fat Washington’s wasteful spending is the underlying cause of our nation’s ballooning debt. We need to go through the budget line by line and eliminate Washington’s waste. Fiscal responsibility isn’t about gutting the essential services the government provides. It’s about finding and cutting inefficient, unnecessary, or duplicative programs.
2 Make & Stick to a Budget The American people want and deserve a responsible budget that ends the politics-as-usual approach of budget gimmicks, accounting tricks, and empty promises. It has been over three years since Congress enacted one. 2013 is a new year, a new start. Let’s kick it off the right way with a responsible budget that respects hardworking taxpayers.
3 Break the Addiction Washington is on a spending binge. And it’s time to go to rehab. We cannot give Washington another dollar until it can prove it has kicked its spending addiction. A sustained recovery will only happen when we make the sacrifices necessary to put government spending back on a sustainable path.
4 Plan for the Future We spend a lot of money on defense and entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security – millions of Americans rely on these programs. But we need to make sure every dollar we spend is being used as efficiently and effectively as possible so that we strengthen these programs for those who need them now and preserve them for future generations. Washington must focus on reforming these to make them solvent in the long-term.
5 Put Others Before Yourself Time and time again, we hear candidates say whatever they think voters want to hear to get them into office. And time and time again, they’ll do whatever they can to stay in office. And too often this comes at the expense of the hardworking taxpayers who sent them to Washington in the first place. Congress must put people ahead of politics in 2013.
6 Keep Your Promises Americans are tired of empty promises and failed policies. Lawmakers’ inability to keep their promises has serious consequences in voters’ minds and lives. Lawmakers can no longer put off the hard decisions. It’s time for our leaders in Washington to finally make good on their word and get the nation’s finances in order. Keep your promises in 2013.
Our leaders in Washington have never been short on words. But they can’t just make resolutions – they need to keep them. After all, talk is cheap. Overspending is not.