I'm not a professional politician. I'm a professional problem solver, and I believe we should cut the salaries of senators and congressmen 10 percent until they balance the budget. I call that conservative common sense.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
You want to balance the budget in this country? We change the salary structure for Congress and the President. Every year they don't balance the budget, we don't pay them.
Yes, I introduced the congressional pay cut bill, cutting our salaries by five percent. And I think we have to lead by example.
I'm not a professional politician, I'm a problem solver.
This is the people's money, and we need to use it on their priorities. Increasing the pay of members of Congress is not their priority.
Normally, when politicians talk about 'cutting the budget,' they really mean reducing the amount of increase. Actual spending goes up while the politicians claim to have 'cut the budget.'
If Congress is unable to do its job and pass a federal budget, then I do not believe we should receive a salary.
So, the point I'm making is, we are not going to cut spending in Washington if we think it's the job of every congressman and senator is to pave local parking lots and build local sewer plants. These parochial interests are getting in the way of the national interests.
As I have traveled throughout my Congressional district, the one thing I heard loud and clear was simply please stop spending money you do not have, rein in spending, live within a budget.
You make budget cuts based on what you want to accomplish. You have to decide what is our priority going forward as a country. You cannot do it on the backs of any one group of people... There has to be some balance.
I am a small-government conservative who clings tenaciously and old-fashionedly to the idea that one ought to have balanced budgets.