Both New Hampshire Representatives vote for the two week budget extension

  As is well known by now, earlier today the House voted by a margin of  335-91 to extend the federal budget for two weeks, avoiding a government shutdown and giving the House a little time so that a deal can be hammered out to pass a budget for the remainder of the fiscal year. This extension included spending cuts of $4 billion, and the measure is expected to pass the senate and make its way to the president’s desk for his likely signature.

  I for one am not sure that shutting down the government in a showdown over spending would have been a bad thing, but Republicans know that this is a strategy that backfired on them when Bill Clinton was president and they were unwilling to take that chance once again. But this is an important issue and these politicians should not be looking at how their votes will effect them politically, because the future of our nation is at stake. Hopefully House Republicans will use the next two weeks to force the Democrats into agreeing to even more budget cuts than were included in the original budget, but we will have to wait and see if they have to courage to hold the Democrats’ feet to the fire. 

  Both newly elected Hew Hampshire Republican representatives–Frank Guinta and Charlie Bass–voted in favor of the budget extension and I do not feel as if I am going to far out on a limb to state that I believe if Carol Shea-Porter and Paul Hodes were still “representing” New Hampshire that the final vote would have been 333-93. While that wouldn’t have come close to changing the outcome of the vote, it is a great feeling to see our representatives show a little bit of fiscal responsibility for once. Over the last four years that Hodes and Shea-Porter have been in office we had seen that the only time they cared about fiscal responsibility was when they were running for re-election in 2010. All of a sudden they claimed they were the fiscally responsible ones even though they had voted for Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid’s bloated budget increases. Thankfully the New Hampshire voters saw through this ruse and sent Frank Guinta and Charlie Bass to Washington to replace them.

 It is equally satisfying to read the words released by New Hampshire’s new representatives:

Rep. Frank Guinta, R-N.H., said in a statement, “This is another victory in the long campaign to restore fiscal sanity to Washington. We in the House are acting responsibly, making the real-time spending cuts the people want.

“We passed a continuing resolution 10 days ago that contained $61 billion in cuts, only to watch Senate Democrats dig in their heels in opposition,” he said.

Guinta said, “Today we won $4.01 billion in spending reductions. It’s a positive step forward, but it’s a baby step. We must cut even more. I will keep fighting for meaningful spending cuts until Washington finally kicks the habit of irresponsible spending.”

U.S. Rep. Charles Bass, R-N.H., who also voted for the measure, said, “Our top priority is to do everything possible to avoid a government shutdown. Today, the House passed – with bipartisan support – a reasonable short-term measure that will fund the federal government for two weeks while also upholding our commitment to reining in out-of-control federal spending.

“Last year,” Bass continued, “the Democratic-led House failed to pass a budget or any of the appropriations bills, instead choosing to punt the problem to this new Congress.

“Today’s measure prevents a government shutdown while allowing Congress to continue working toward a solution to fund the government for the rest of this year,” Bass said.

  Frank Guinta hit the nail on the head. This is a step in the right direction, but it is only a very small step. I can only hope that not only will the Republicans in the House reinstate the $61 billion they were looking to cut in the original continuing resolution, but will look for even further cuts in the budget. If the Republicans could get the Democrats to agree to $4 billion in cuts simply for extending the budget for two weeks maybe there is a chance they can hold out for more when they head back to the table. Frank Guinta and Charlie Bass are saying the right things right now and I expect them to back it up with real cuts in the future.

  Republicans won control of the House last November–in part–because they promised to cut $100 billion from the federal budget and yet in the budget that was rejected they only came up with just over $60 billion in cuts. If the Republicans are to make good on this promise they will have to propose a budget with more than $100 billion is spending cuts because we know the number will be lower once the budget is pared down in the negotiations. If they do not do this, then this has all been a waste of time, for we will learn that they simply are no more serious than the Democrats when it comes to the issue of spending.