Congress is preparing to debate financial regulatory reform legislation authored by Senator Chris Dodd.   I voted against the original government bailout of Wall Street, and I am fully committed to protecting our tax dollars from being used to rescue failed institutions from their own mistakes.

With that in mind, I have some serious concerns about this bill.   In its current form, the bill would codify government policies which have sent billions of taxpayer dollars to Wall Street firms.  This bill would also restrict access to credit for families and small businesses, which would further damage our weakened economy.  It would also create broad new authority for government bureaucrats to regulate major sectors of the economy, many of which have never taken a dime from the taxpayers.

In this era of expanding government and exploding deficits, we need to focus on fiscally responsible solutions that protect taxpayers and the free market.   This bill ignores the principle causes of the financial crisis and creates a burdensome new regulatory system that will increase costs for businesses and consumers.   Congress must address the root causes of the recent financial crisis, close regulatory gaps, and fix the misguided policies that contributed to the housing crisis and subsequent credit crunch.  This includes winding down mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, ending bailouts of failed financial institutions that helped precipitate the crisis, and strengthening oversight of credit rating agencies.  Private sector financial institutions should never rely on taxpayer contributions to stay afloat. 

Congressmen John Culberson (R, TX-07) and Gene Green (D, TX-29) penned the following editorial noting the President’s decision to end America’s leadership in space.

It was a starry summer night some 41 years ago when a small, odd-looking vehicle landed in the Tranquilitatis Basin on the face of the moon. Approximately 250,000 miles from Earth the Eagle had landed, and with it the hopes and dreams of the human race were carried to new heights.

Today the United States manned space program lies in deep peril as our ability to reach destinations such as the moon, Mars and beyond continues to slip to indefinite timetables. If Congress accepts the president’s budget proposal on NASA’s Constellation program — a program that enjoys bipartisan support — Constellation will be eliminated from the federal budget, effectively ending the era of American leadership in space. The manned space program has preserved our leadership in space exploration for nearly five decades. It has also sparked the technological and scientific advancements that have kept America competitive in the global economy. Canceling the manned space program puts our security and prosperity at risk.

The arguments for maintaining the Constellation program are simple. First, it will cost at least $2.5 billion just to shut down Constellation within NASA, and this figure does not include the unknown cost to contractors. It is senseless to cancel a tested and proven system in hopes that a nonexistent industry will emerge and someday achieve the same feat of carrying humans to space. Second, the Russians are charging us more than $50 million per seat to access low-earth orbit, a bill that taxpayers will have to foot for our own astronauts as well as provide crew access for our European and Japanese allies to whom we are obligated by International Space Station partnership agreements. Finally, with no replacement to the shuttle and the subsequent Russian monopoly on human access to space, there will be nothing to stop the Russians from raising our costs when it comes time for our countries to renegotiate the rate they will charge us.

Apollo Astronaut Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, recently remarked, “History demonstrates that the evolution of technology is subject to a need — a challenge, a crisis or a combination thereof, such as Apollo, WWII, or energy independence. First comes the mission, then comes the development of technology to accomplish the established goals.” Without a mission and a destination, the technology will not develop and the billions of tax dollars we have invested in the program will die on the proverbial vine.

Constellation is our only hope to close the current five-year gap in U.S. access to space, and closing the gap is the key to capturing the passion, support and enthusiasm of the next generation the same way President Kennedy’s space race captured ours. NASA’s manned space program has created a class of citizen heroes unlike any the world has known. Only in America can children of no means grow up to be the Columbuses and the Magellans of our time, funded not by the gold and gems of monarchs, but by a democracy committed to the daring and unending pursuit of knowledge.

This unique aspect of our history is now in danger of becoming a footnote. Shutting down Constellation sends the dangerous and irresponsible message to our children and grandchildren that education and progress no longer matter. As members of Congress, Texans, and most importantly fathers, we urge the president to consider the effect this decision will have on future generations.

This week, the Obama Administration announced that it will halt the development of new nuclear weapons and strictly limit the circumstances under which the United States would deploy nuclear arms.  Under President Obama’s plan, the United States will commit to not using nuclear weapons as defensive or retaliatory measures against non-nuclear nations, even if those nations launched an attack on our country. 

While a world free of nuclear arms is a nice situation to wish for, this utopian fantasy ignores the fact remains that many nations – some non-nuclear – strive to do us harm.  Freedom from the threat of a nuclear retaliation will actually embolden rather than deter their efforts.  It makes absolutely no sense to forfeit our technological superiority with countries like Iran, North Korea, and Syria actively seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

I am outraged that our Commander in Chief is willing to risk the safety of our nation in what seems to be a feeble attempt to make our enemies to like us.  President Obama has shown no qualms about endangering the financial security of future generations, and now, with this decision, he is endangering our physical security.  Nobody wants a nuclear war, but in this increasingly dangerous world our military commanders need every available option to keep our country safe.

While the legislative battle to reform health care may be over in the 111^th Congress, my fight to protect the sovereignty of our states, our individual liberties, and our pocketbooks continues. 

I understand the need to reform our health care system, but the bill recently signed into law by President Obama is just a consolidation of power by the federal government.  Ensuring that all Americans have access to affordable healthcare is a worthy goal and one that I support, but we should do it by empowering patients, not the government.  We need fiscally responsible solutions that will lower costs; solutions like lawsuit reform and allowing people to purchase insurance across state lines, not tax hikes and individual mandates. 

As a Jeffersonian conservative, I instinctively resist any shift of power to the federal government.  For the first time in the history of our Republic, the federal government is attempting to force individual Americans to buy services from private companies or face a penalty.  Nowhere in the Constitution does it authorize the federal government to mandate, either directly or under the threat of penalty, that all citizens have qualifying health care coverage.  By imposing this new mandate, the President’s health care bill exceeds the powers of the federal government enumerated in the Constitution and violates the sovereignty of the states provided for by the Tenth Amendment.

As the Attorney General of Texas, Greg Abbott, recently stated, “For the first time Congress is attempting to regulate and tax Americans for doing absolutely nothing. H.R. 3590 attempts to tax and regulate each American’s mere existence.”  Congress and the federal government must stop weakening the Constitution, which is why I have cosponsored a resolution commending the efforts of state legislatures, Attorneys General, and individual citizens to resist the implementation of the health care bill.

Why do we need $600 million in new “emergency spending” when we haven’t spent the $400 million of emergency spending from last year?

A day after the President signed a trillion dollar government take over of health care, House Democrats will attempt to jam through billions more in borrowed spending. Once again, Speaker Pelosi has chosen to shut out the American people by bringing a billion dollar bill to the floor that was crafted in secret with no public hearings.

The Democrats’ “Disaster Relief and Summer Jobs” bill contains $600 million for a “Summer Youth Jobs” grant program. This is in addition to the yet unspent $400 million for the program in the “stimulus bill.”  Wasn’t the $787 billion stimulus bill supposed to create jobs? Why do we need $600 million in new “emergency spending” when we haven’t spent the $400 million of emergency spending from last year?

Congress has to start living within its means or we will end up like Argentina – fiscally insolvent.

Tonight the House of Representatives passed a health care “reform” bill that will cost the taxpayers another trillion dollars, fundamentally alter one-sixth of the nation’s economy, and subject millions of Americans to dependence on the federal government.  I have been a fierce opponent of this bill from the beginning, and today cast a very strong “No” vote against it. 

It is often said that there are two things Americans should never see:  sausage being made and a bill being passed.  Having witnessed Speaker Pelosi bring this bill to the floor, I’m hard pressed to tell the difference.  With 34 Democrats joining Republicans in voting against this government takeover of health care, the only thing bipartisan about this bill was the opposition to it.

The problem with American health care today isn’t quality; it’s cost.  Thus, reform should focus on bringing down costs by making insurance tax deductible, portable, and available across state lines; by rooting out fraud, and by protecting doctors from frivolous lawsuits; not raising taxes by $569 billion during a recession and imposing an unconstitutional individual mandate.  I am ashamed of the way the House of Representatives has conducted itself during this process, and remain committed to protecting the integrity of the institution and representing the 7th District of Texas as a fiscal conservative.  

Yesterday, Treasure Secretary Geithner testified before our subcommittee and I pressed him about our nation’s deficits and unfunded liabilities.  I noted that the Obama administration and Nancy Pelosi had “spent more money in less time than any administration in history, [they] have driven the deficits to unprecedented levels, and [they're] trying to sell a bill of goods to the country claiming that [they're] going to create the mother of all entitlements, insure 30 million more Americans, and we’re going to save you money … Nobody believes that.” Please click here to watch the video.

His testimony came on the same day the Treasury Department announced that the Obama administration had run up the largest monthly deficit in history.  In February, the federal deficit totaled $220.9 billion, 14 percent higher than the previous record set in February of 2009 and there is no sign of slowing down.  According to the Associated Press, “The Obama administration is projecting that the deficit for the 2010 budget year will hit an all-time high of $1.56 trillion, surpassing last year’s $1.4 trillion total.”

Against this backdrop, the Obama administration is proposing another massive new entitlement program under the guise of health care reform.  The fact is our country cannot afford a new entitlement program.  Medicare is currently broke, Social Security is going broke and Medicaid is bankrupting not only the federal government, but also the states.  I believe we need to reform health care, but we can do it without bankrupting our country in the process. To learn more about Conservative health care proposals, please click here.

The American people are tired of out-of-control government spending, taxing, and borrowing.  To show that House conservatives are serious about the urgent fiscal crisis our nation is facing, I have joined my colleagues in calling for an immediate moratorium on all earmarks.  Congress has to start living within its means or we will end up like Argentina – fiscally insolvent.  By taking these small steps, we can put our country back on a path to fiscal stability.

Over the past year, Americans have said in every possible way – through letters, phone calls, and town hall meetings – that they do not want a government takeover of health care. Last week the president once again denied the American people the right to a clean start with health care reform, instead opting to push through his own agenda.

Last month the president said he did not want to get “too bogged down” in the numbers associated with health care costs. I would argue that we have no choice:  Medicare is currently broke, Social Security is going broke and Medicaid is bankrupting not only the federal government, but also the states. The president’s plan does not fix these problems. Instead, it burdens the taxpayers with yet another entitlement program at a time when we can’t afford the entitlements we currently have.

After a year of debate, I appreciate the president’s adoption of a few, select Republican ideas. If this new proposal truly represents commonality, as the president claims, than surely there is no need to pass this bill under reconciliation. It should be able to garner bipartisan support like other major pieces of legislation that have passed Congress. I look forward to working with President Obama and my colleagues on common sense health care reforms that will lower costs for families and small businesses and expand access to affordable, high-quality care.

Members of Congress and, more importantly, the American taxpayers have not had a chance to read the “jobs bill” and debate its implications. 

Today, the House will vote on a $15 billion “jobs bill.”  Although it is scheduled to be voted on in a few hours, Members of Congress and, more importantly, the American taxpayers have not had a chance to read the bill and debate its implications.   

Of course, this sort of behavior is not new. Several record spending bills were passed by the House last year without a chance for Members of Congress and the American people to read them.  Last June, Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA) and I introduced H.Res. 554, a resolution requiring the House of Representatives to make bills and conference reports available online for 72 hours before they are considered by the House.  This resolution will enhance public participation in our democracy and help restore the public trust in government by raising the level of openness, order and discourse. I urge the Speaker to give the American people at least the weekend to read this bill so Members can stop voting blind.

If this new proposal truly represents commonality, as the president claims, than surely there is no need to jam this bill through under reconciliation.

Over the past year, Americans have said in every possible way – through letters, phone calls, town hall meetings, and elections – that they do not want a government takeover of health care. Today, the president will once again deny the American people the right to a clean start with health care reform, instead opting to push through his own agenda.

Last week the president said he did not want to get “too bogged down” in the numbers associated with health care costs. I would argue that we have no choice:  Medicare is currently broke, Social Security is going broke and Medicaid is bankrupting not only the federal government, but also the states. The president’s plan does not fix these problems. Instead, it burdens the taxpayers with yet another entitlement program at a time when we can’t afford the entitlements we currently have.

After a year of debate, I appreciate the president’s adoption of a few, select Republican ideas. If this new proposal truly represents commonality, as the president claims, than surely there is no need to jam this bill through under reconciliation. It should be able to garner bipartisan support like other major pieces of legislation that have passed Congress. I look forward to working with President Obama and my colleagues on common sense health care reforms that will lower costs for families and small businesses and expand access to affordable, high-quality care.