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Rep. Jim Renacci Meets with Tea Party Leaders

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Representative Renacci met with a small group of Ohio conservative Tea Party leaders in his Canton office on Friday, May 6th, to discuss his work in Washington for the first couple months of his freshman term in office.

Two questions arose on his performance in the 100 or so days of his initial term. The first question posed by frustrated Tea Party members concerned the promised $100 billion dollars in cuts and his vote in favor of the deal on a budget deal that only cut $39 billion dollars in order to pass the continuing resolution and avoid a government shutdown.

Tea Party representatives believe the deal struck by Speaker Boehner was not strong enough. Tea Party leaders questioned why the announced target of $61 billion dollars in cuts to an unacceptable level by Speaker Boehner and several of those in attendance questioned the final compromise made in the meetings. The second question posed was on the upcoming vote on the Dept Ceiling and whether Republicans will hammer out a deal that successfully cuts spending. Several Tea Party leaders seemed willing to let the budget go into default in order to force the necessary cuts in programs needed to reach a balanced budget.

 

Congressman Renacci explained that there are some misconceptions about the $100 billion dollars in cuts promised by House Speaker Boehner by saying that the pledge was for the entire 2011 budget and not the entire the first couple months of the budget year.

The bargaining position put forward by President Obama and Senator Harry Reid was for zero cuts in spending. Speaker Boehner was fighting for $61 billion in cuts. The final deal cut was closer to $38 billion.  Democrats refused to cut spending for Planned Parenthood and NPR but were perfectly willing to stop the pay of our military personnel and their families if the deal could not have been struck and the government was shut down. The deciding factor in Renacci’s Continuing Resolution vote on the budget was Democrats were willing to stop the pay of our soldiers.

Congressman Renacci explained he received two hundred letters from military families who made impassioned pleas that he not cast a vote which would take away the pay of soldiers and their families. Renacci said, “when it was time to put my card in the machine to cast my vote on the CR, I was not willing vote to cut the pay of soldiers.”  He went on to explain that the new congress has cast 246 cost cutting votes since January which have been designed to cut spending and eliminate waste.  None of the cost cutting bills past by the Republican controlled house have been taken up by the Democrat controlled Senate and unless the Senate managed to pass those cost cutting measures with a veto proof margin, President Obama would surely veto the spending bills.

The second topic for discussion at the meeting was the upcoming negotiation on  raising the Debt Ceiling and the consequences of a vote to not raise the debt ceiling. Renacci’s office staff prepared a thorough power point presentation explaining the economic consequences of not approving a debt ceiling increase. The Debt Ceiling presentation was jam packed with facts and figures on what could happen if the budget ceiling fails to pass and show failure to raise the debt ceiling was not an option. The Obama administration has demanded a vote on raising the debt ceiling be passed with no add on conditions for budget cuts. The Republicans have proposed adding spending cuts and there is a Senate proposal to add a balanced budget amendment.

Rep. Renacci said he supported the Paul Ryan plan to reform government and eventually balance the federal budget. Renacci is fighting to make the Ryan plan a condition of raising the debt ceiling by an additional two trillion dollars. Representative Renacci made one clear policy statement is assessing his roll in Washington. He said, “I am a conservative Republican and every day I am looking for ways to cut spending in Washington.”