By: Rep. Tim Huelskamp-R

“Are you kidding me?”

That was all I could think to myself when I heard that U.S. Treasury Secretary Geithner said that the U.S. “absolutely” should get rid of the debt ceiling, which is the limit on federal government borrowing.

Having served in Congress for two years now I thought that I had heard it all from the Obama Administration, but it appears they have not run out of senseless ideas. At a time when America is more than $16 trillion in debt – an amount about equivalent to the size of our entire economy – the last thing we need is to remove the cap on America’s credit card.

Two years before becoming President, then-Senator Barack Obama declared it “unpatriotic” to raise the debt limit. It was probably one of the few times we have been or ever will be on the same page. Yet, as we come to the conclusion of his first term as President, present and future taxpayers are on the hook for $6 trillion more debt and are likely to be responsible for at least $4 trillion more come the end of his second term.

Despite the $6 trillion more debt in his first term, the Obama Administration will come to Congress in a matter of weeks and ask that we raise the debt limit. Or, apparently as Secretary Geithner has suggested, get rid of it altogether.
The unfortunate reality is that Congress will have to raise the debt limit. That is what happens when Washington borrows 40 percent of what it spends. But, this time the conditions have to be different.

Another deal like the one that was cut by Republicans and Democrats in August 2011 cannot be on the table. Sixteen months after that arrangement, Washington has almost exhausted all of the borrowing, but has not a single cut yet to show for it. The cuts are set to take place on January 1, 2013, but the odds are high that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle will find a way to finagle out of them.

As it was 16 months ago, the problem in Washington is not that we do not take in enough money. No, the problem is still that we spend too much. Perhaps I sound like a broken record writing that month after month, but Congress and the President have yet to deal with the out-of-control spending.

Voters may have sent mixed messages to Washington by re-electing a Democrat President with a slim 51-percent margin and a Republican-controlled House (where the Constitution prescribes all revenue bills must originate), but exit polls from on Election Day show a pretty clear mandate on the policy direction of Washington: it is time to tackle spending.

Nearly two-thirds of voters said “no” to raising taxes to fix the deficit (meaning spending cuts are the way to go), and by an eight-point margin voters said “government is doing too many things better left to businesses and individuals” rather than “government should do more to solve problems.” Americans are not looking for higher taxes and more government; they are looking for less of both.

If the next “debt deal” is anything like the last – guaranteed debt, uncertain spending cuts – I will again ask: “Are you kidding me?” After all, more debt and more spending is no laughing matter.

Tim Huelskamp of Fowler, represents the First District of Kansas in the U.S. House of Representatives. He serves on the House Budget, Agriculture, and Veterans’ Affairs Committees.

By Bob Stallman, president, American Farm Bureau Federation

An old proverb states that a job worth doing is a job worth doing well. Our farm bill and all it offers our nation as an engine for commerce, a safety net for all Americans facing economic hardship and as a spur to greater environmental stewardship is a task worth doing right. Make no mistake, whether the 112th Congress completes this job in the form of a bipartisan comprehensive five-year plan or simply kicks the can down the road with a stop-gap extension, its handling of the farm bill process will likely help decide its legacy and the future of our food system.

Time is running short and clearly there is no lack of big-ticket items that need to be addressed in this lame duck session. Some pundits pontificate that consideration of the farm bill could easily be postponed for consideration next year. But, it is certain that Congress must either pass the pending farm bill or some type of extension before the recess, or accept the fact that outdated farm policies put in place more than 70 years ago will begin impacting families all across America. That’s right; unless Congress acts quickly, much of our farm policy will revert back to laws passed in the 1930s and 40s.

Since some crops were not covered under the Depression-era farm laws, an extension bill would not manage many of the risks associated with drought, market volatility or geopolitical strife. Other crops would needlessly be supported at three to four times the current level. The bottom line is that reverting to those old laws not only impacts agriculture, a sector that has performed well during our nation’s economic crisis, but will impact consumers and taxpayers at a time when fiscal constraint is needed to rein in our federal budget deficit.

From my perspective, passage of a five-year comprehensive bill would be much easier than only attempting an extension of current law. An extension bill only raises more questions than it answers. Like, will farmers and their lenders continue to have the same assurances for the coming year as they have had the last five years or do they need to plan for changes? Will those changes look like what Congress and farmers have been working on for the last several years or just reductions in what has been in place? For our nation’s dairy farmers, will they have to continue without the Milk Income Loss Contract program, as they are now? What about all of the livestock farmers that were devastated by the drought and have not been eligible for any disaster assistance?

Why is this important? Over the last two years, but especially this year, livestock farmers have suffered tremendous losses due to drought. Disaster programs that would have helped them expired in 2011. Many fruit growers lost their entire crop this past year because of a late freeze and other farms have been damaged by natural disasters including Hurricane Sandy. In the absence of a real farm bill how will Congress address disaster coverage for livestock and other farmers?

Farmers are proud stewards of the land and our vital natural resources, but Congress’ failure to act has put a stop to many important environmental efforts and planning. What will the Conservation title look like? Both the Wetlands Reserve Program and the Grassland Reserve Program have expired. There are other conservation programs expiring as well.

The bottom line is that there will be much debate on how many programs will be extended, how many will be left on the cutting room floor and where the funding will come from to pay for those extensions. But, when it comes to the food system of our country as well as consumers’ and taxpayers’ pocketbooks to help pay for that food system, isn’t the farm bill worth doing right?

Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, is a rice and cattle farmer from Columbus, Texas.

By Richard D. Fry

I received a pre-election message from Kansas Senator Jerry Moran. What is Jerry’s big message?

“While it seems like every election is the “most important”, I truly believe that tomorrow will profoundly define the America we leave to our children and grandchildren…. the future of our nation is at stake. With 23 million Americans out of work, it seems clear we need new leadership…. Let’s restore prosperity.”

Jerry you cannot have lasting “prosperity” without individual Liberty. That was the conclusion of the great experiment of our Founding Fathers / Framers of the Constitution. It has resulted in historically unparalleled Liberty of any people being visited upon the American people and has led to the unparalleled prosperity of any nation being visited upon America.

The foundation of such Liberty is that Liberty was given to the people by God and is unalienable which means the people are the sovereign and the government is a mere servant of the people.

During his tenure in Congress Jerry has helped to undercut the very foundation of our Liberty and therefore our prosperity. Sometimes he has done so subtly such as by voting for one Farm Bill after another which contained elements of the UN’s Sustainable Development theory / Agenda 21 (A21), other times it has been more apparent such as with the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2012.

Senator Moran’s Support for UN’s Sustainable Development

Recently, Senator Moran publicly chastised the Secretary of Agriculture for promoting “meatless Monday.” “Meatless Monday” is part and parcel of Sustainable Development which Sen. Moran has been voting for and authorizing funding of since he has been in Congress.

One example of such is the hundreds of millions of dollars Jerry authorized the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to spend to do flatulence studies (called the “fart studies” by some.) This started around 2001 – 2002. Such studies were the subject of a Saturday Night Live skit in 2003 and made Sen. Tom Coburn’s infamous list of the top 100 most wasteful federal projects at least once. These “studies” are still going on here and abroad.

These studies are based on the long since refuted theory of ‘Anthropogenic Global Warming’ i.e., the assertion that we are experiencing “global warming” and it is manmade. The UN has asserted that animal flatulence causes more “greenhouse gases” (the cause of “global warming”) than all the cars and buses and planes etc. combined.

According to the UN, global warming is an infliction by the western world upon the rest of the world due to the west’s greed in promoting the advancement of mankind over the environment. Such things as air conditioning, burning of fossil fuels, private ownership of land and yes eating meat are some of the indulgences of the western world the environment (and rest of the world) can no longer sustain.

Make no mistake about it Senator Pat Robert’s has been no better.

Senator Moran’s support for NDAA

A more obvious attack on our Liberty has been Sen. Moran’s support for the NDAA.

NDAA under cuts over a dozen provisions of the Constitution and Bill of Rights which relates directly to our personal Liberty. It allows the President (executive branch) based on a mere suspicion (less than is required for an arrest warrant) to “capture” a U.S. citizen, including in the United States, and hold them indefinitely without allowing them to talk to an attorney (or family), without a jury trial, without being allowed to see evidence against them or to confront witnesses’ against them. It even allows the government to turn such citizens over to a foreign government or to a “foreign entity” such as Interpol, a UN affiliate. NDAA is a “no fly list” supersized and placed on steroids.

(Currently some are objecting because the UN is sending in election monitors to oversee voting in the U.S. The UN is concerned about such requirements as states requiring photo ids. This is nothing compared to what is authorized in the NDAA.)

Unlike Sen. Roberts and Congresspersons Yoder, Pompeo and Jenkins who voted for this horrendous bill, Moran skipped the actual vote. This tells us something since he has something of a reputation for skipping out on tough votes.

There is an adage at law which says “those who do not object acquiesce” and this is especially true if they have a duty to speak out against something. Under Article VI of the Constitution Sen. Moran has a duty to protect the Constitution. This is an active and affirmative duty. This duty includes the requirement he tells his constituents (his bosses) of any attack on the Constitution and their Liberty and undertakes action to stop such attack.

Sen. Moran has failed miserably in his duty to the Constitution and the citizens of Kansas as it relates to the NDAA.

Some will say that Sen. Roberts and Congresspersons Pompeo, Yoder and Jenkins have likewise failed.

Yes they are right they all failed. But, their duty to the Constitution is personal. None of them get off the hook because one or more of the others violated their personal duty and oath to the Constitution. I am not holding up for these other usurpers of Liberty, I am simply pointing out the hypocrisy of Sen. Moran’s election message.

Don’t forget your duty to call these “public servants” out on this grave breach of their duty. Don’t drink Sen. Moran’s Kool–Aid and remain one of his “kids.” As he says such will “profoundly define the America we leave to our children and grandchildren…”

P.S. Only Congressman Huelskamp voted against the NDAA and has continued to try to correct its unconstitutional provisions. You might send him a letter of thanks on behalf of your kids.

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