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Washington, D.C., is not known as a beacon of honesty and candor. So it's almost shocking to see the House pass a budget bill as thoroughly straightforward and grounded in reality as the Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act.
Just like the budget resolution passed by House Republicans in March, this budget measure does not deny the severity of our debt problem and does not pretend that there are quick, easy fixes. It is impossible to reduce our $16 trillion debt unless every aspect of the federal budget is on the table -- from social programs to defense to entitlement spending.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Tom Cole (OK-04) released the following statement after being recognized by the American Conservative Union (ACU) as one of the most conservative members of Congress. The 2011 ACU Ratings Award is presented to legislators who scored 80 percent or higher on a variety of conservative issues on which Congress voted in the first session of the 112th Congress. Cole was recognized Thursday at a presentation on Capitol Hill.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Tom Cole (OK-04) released the following statement after House passage of H.R. 5652, the Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act of 2012. The bill protects the military from dangerous, arbitrary budget cuts by taking a responsible, balanced approach to cutting wasteful spending throughout the budget. Without congressional action, the military will bear a disproportionate burden of the $109 billion in automatic, across-the-board spending cuts set to take place in January 2013.
Today's parents face a prospect rare in American history: the possibility that our children and grandchildren will inherit an America with less opportunity and prosperity than previous generations enjoyed. Integral to the American Dream is the assumption that each generation will enjoy a higher standard of living and economic opportunity than their parents did. However, the economic downturn and unsustainable government debt levels have combined to create troubling economic trends that point to an uncertain future for today's young people.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Tom Cole (OK-04) released the following statement in response to President Obama's remarks in Afghanistan:
"I appreciate the fact that the president took the chance to visit Afghanistan for the first time in 17 months and address the American people on the war for the first time in over a year.
The Medicare and Social Security Trustees just released their annual reports, and the findings are predictably sobering. According to the latest calculations, Medicare will go bankrupt in 2024. Social Security will run out of money in 2033 -- three years earlier than last year's report projected.
Those dates may have seemed comfortably distant during the '80s and '90s, but in 2012 we can no longer deny that dire consequences are coming -- and soon -- if we don't take action to save these programs.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Tom Cole (OK-04) released the following statement after House passage of the Interest Rate Reduction Act, which will extend the current 3.4 percent interest rates on federal student loans for one year. The cost of the bill is paid for by eliminating unnecessary spending in the president’s health care law.
By any measure, the U.S. tax code is broken.
To hear the media tell it, congressional Republicans have no solutions for health care reform beyond repealing Obamacare. However, House Republicans have not only proposed but have passed numerous plans to make health care more affordable and accessible -- without putting the federal government in charge of one-sixth of the national economy.
Excessive government spending has become so commonplace, it rarely makes headlines. Yet every so often a government spending scandal comes along that reminds us all just how careless and irresponsible some federal agencies are with taxpayer money. New revelations about extravagant spending at the Government Services Administration (GSA) serve as one of the most egregious examples in recent memory. A report by the GSA inspector general revealed that the agency spent $823,000 for one training conference in October 2010.