An Open Letter to Senator Richard Burr

Dear Senator Burr,

I voted for you to represent my voice, along with that of other conservatives in North Carolina, in the mid-term election held 43 short days ago. I made that decision based on your past voting record and the pieces of legislation that you've co-sponsored in the recent past to include the Balanced Budget Amendment; Honest Expenditure Limitation Program Act of 2010; and the Fiscal Discipline, Earmark Reform and Accountability Act of 2009 to name a few.

I must say that your voting in favor of the Tax Extension Package (it was not a cut) in the Senate today was a real disappointment for me and many of my friends and colleagues. The message that the majority of the voters sent in this past election was not that we simply wanted the economy to recover faster but that we also understand that the two keys to making that happen is keeping taxes low to generate revenue and cutting wasteful spending to work towards balancing the budget. To be completely honest, I found your vote in favor of this package to be both insulting and irresponsible.

First let’s talk Cost and Current Tax Rates-

The majority of the costs in this package are not even tax related. The majority of the true costs are primarily in the unfunded extension of Unemployment Benefits, the decrease in Social Security Payroll Taxes (a program that is already insolvent and certainly cannot afford to have its revenue stream reduced even further) and a number of other wasteful earmarks to special interest groups such as ethanol subsidies, solar grants, etc.

You see, I for one (but one of many), don’t buy the $700 Billion price tag the Democrats are putting on the extension of rates for the investors and job producers, or as they call them “the wealthy”. First of all, that money is not included in the current budget so it not being there next year is not a true cost (this is accounting 101). Using their reasoning, one would also need to add an additional $3.2 Trillion to the cost of the package - that being the cost of extending the current rates for everyone not included in their definition of “wealthy”.

Individuals such as yourself had the opportunity today to show those that voted for you that you could (and would) stand firm in regards to doing the right thing for us as individuals and collectively as a nation. The only way to create confidence amongst both the consumers and the job-producers in this country is to keep their taxes low and give them some permanency upon which they can base their business plans and further expansion opportunities. The better option would have been for the Republicans to show the American people that you are willing to stand by your convictions and do the right thing by proposing an up-or-down vote on permanently extending all of the current rates for everyone and if the Democrats didn’t want to bring it to the floor for a vote, then so be it. The Democrats could have then been left to stand on the floor of the House and the Senate and shove the tax increases down the American people’s throats – with unanimous Republican objection - just like they did the Health Care debacle. In January, the new Congress could have then immediately taken up legislation to make all of the current tax rates permanent retroactively and you can bet that after only a few weeks of heat from their constituents after looking at their reduced paychecks, the Democrats would have been very quick to jump on the band-wagon. They certainly wouldn’t have wanted to spend the next 2 years leading up to the next election letting the fervor over their tax increases continue to build amongst their constituencies.

In Regards to the Extension of Unemployment Benefits -

As for the unfunded extension of Unemployment Benefits – I must again be honest and state that I am against that idea on principal alone. Any program that incentivizes non-production for any extended length of time is detrimental to the human psyche as well as a bad business practice. That being said, given the tough economic climate and the high rate of unemployment, I would be willing to compromise on this one. By compromise I don’t mean give them what they want without funding it, compromise to me would mean they could have it, but they’d need to find the money from elsewhere in the budget to fund it, just as they committed to doing when they passed their Pay-Go resolution a few years ago. Again, I feel this was another missed opportunity to stand firm in regards to doing the right thing for the American people and the people of North Carolina by holding their feet to the fire and making this issue stand on its merits in an up-or down vote.

In Regards to the Reduction of the Social Security Payroll Tax –

Any American citizen who is not aware that the Social Security Program is insolvent and that the trust fund has been empty, with the exception of Congressional IOU’s, for years must be living under a rock. Every time Social Security Reform is mentioned, politicians in general tend to run in opposite directions, yet now given the opportunity to make the issue even worse by further reducing its revenue stream by $120 Billion, you somehow find bi-partisan support to make it happen. Please help me and other conservatives understand how this reasoning works.

All in all, it looks like we’ll get to keep most of our current tax rates (and rightly so) at no actual cost to the American people while the Democrats get to cut Social Security Taxes, extend unfunded Unemployment Benefits, as well as provide various other earmarks to Special Interests, all to the tune of about $150 - $160 Billion in additional deficit spending and actual cost to the American People.

This is what you call a compromise? I am quite certain that if this is any indication of your negotiating abilities, your willingness (or lack thereof) to stand firm with conviction, or the direction you will be taking over the next 6 years, I and other conservatives in North Carolina will be spending our time searching out a person who will truly represent our voice in the US Senate in 2016.

Sincerely,

Jeff Olsen
Jamestown NC.