WARNING: Do not break the law before, during, or after reading anything I mention.
The record clearly reflects that Rush Holt is fiscally irresponsible. For instance, his Federal Budget Testimony from March, 2009, given during a time of severe economic uncertainty, applauded the fact that the federal budget sought to make the R&D tax credit permanent. This is quite fine, if only his voting record reflected this sentiment more often. On several other occasions, though, when he was in the minority, he, and the most extreme Democrat partisans in Congress, obstructed the efforts to make tax cuts permanent, and extending similar tax credits, which greatly benefited several small businesses in the district when finally enacted into law.
In H.R. 6, Energy Policy Act of 2005 – which Mr. Holt was one of the thirty percent who voted against it – there were several tax credits that were enacted into law that helped businesses in the district. Section’s 1331 and 1332, for example, the former allowed “a tax deduction for energy efficient commercial building property placed in service before 2008,” and the latter, “[a]llows certain home contractors a business tax credit for the construction of new energy efficient homes acquired before 2008.” Both benefited small businesses in the district. Our collective interests are not consistently attended to by the current career politician. Obviously this representative chooses his own personal interests, and that of his party, over our general interest. We need to halt the spiraling debt and deficit spending that is currently underway by the extreme Democrat Congress pulling real hard on our purse.
Getting back to Rush Holt’s 2009 budget testimony, he noted that
“[f]rom 2005 through 2007, federal research obligations decreased 7.8 percent in constant dollars. Between Fiscal Year 2007 and 2008 alone, total federal research spending dropped by 4.8 percent in constant dollars. The Congress must take some responsibility for this funding situation. In Fiscal year 2008, Congress slightly increased the investment in NSF by 2.5 percent, far short of the 8 to 10 percent increase that was provided in earlier versions of the appropriations bills and less than the 3.8 percent inflation that year. At the same, DoE’s Office of Science received 5.8 percent increase, far less than the 15 to 18 percent increase in earlier versions of these bills. I urge the Budget Committee and the Congress to take a different approach this appropriations cycle.”
Apparently, discretionary spending was actually curtailed by both the Republican and Democratic majority, and Mr. Holt vigorously opposed that fiscal remedy. Certainly, this is an extreme position that does not reflect the general interest of district taxpayers, or even the overall sentiment of Congress as a whole. What is the "different approach" Mr. Holt suggests, even more debt and deficit spending? Is that taking "responsibility for the funding situation?" This is fiscally irresponsible and an unsound partisan sentiment, especially at a time of escalating debt and deficits. It shows a blatant and reckless disregard of fiscal discipline when all of our attention should be focused on eliminating the debt and deficit brought on by decades of wasteful spending. It is clear to me that Mr. Holt will compound the debt issue with increased federal spending, higher taxes, and foreign borrowing, and support all those pet projects for his fellow scientists at Princeton University.
He concluded the 2009 statement by letting us know where his heart really is.
“In these troubled economic times, science is the ideal investment because it provides jobs now while laying the foundation for our future economic growth. As Speaker Pelosi said best, the way to move forward as a nation is ‘through science, science, science, and science.’”
Rush Holt must think that the federal government is the only entity that has ever invested in R&D and created economic growth and jobs. Surely the federal government can provide an atmosphere to have prosperity, but economic growth, job creation, and innovation is not a primary objective for the federal government, it is the personal responsibility of every citizen. I expect this line of thinking coming from a partisan politician, a plasma scientist by trade, who has used his office and connections to keep a steady stream of taxpayer dollars freely running to his former employer, Princeton University, so they can soak up our wealth to conduct scientific and social experiments in their labs on campus, and in the City of Trenton. One thing is for sure, scientists, and Princeton University, have been taken care of during this recession, and have been very busy using all the federal grants and contracts funded by the taxpayers of this district, state, and nation; as if Princeton University cannot afford to finance their own projects, given the amount of money they charge per credit for a liberal education these days, or even the numerous public and private donations accumulated and invested in hedge funds. What should be our national priority when faced with ballooning deficits and debts? Rush Holt would have you listen to, and follow, Nancy Pelosi, as he often does, and triple spending increases on discretionary research and development.
We need to make the tough decisions required to balance the federal budget, cut spending on non-essential programs, and possibly using that revenue to actually start paying off our national debt. We must not let Rush Holt and Congress recklessly throw our hard earned wages at more unnecessary programs. Now this is clearly in the interest of the whole district, not political favors dished out to a few influential constituents residing in one part of it, at the expense of everyone else. We can no longer be spectators, idly standing by on the sideline while another congressional session wastefully spends our money. We must not be apathetic or disgusted with the process. We are the process. The result is determined by our votes. Vote in November, and, maybe, debt and deficits will be a thing to remember.
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