FREELAND -- Washington D.C. lawmakers are back in their home districts holding town hall meetings on many issues relating to the federal budget and debt levels, now that Congress is on recess. Republican U.S. Rep. Dave Camp of Midland met with constituents at Freeland High School to talk about ways to cut spending through a GOP plan called the “Path to Prosperity”.
”It’s about how do we get our economy moving and get jobs created again in this country,” Camp said. “I think it’s a combination of spending cuts and tax reform,” he continued. “If we can lower the rate and broaden the base, we can create a million jobs in the 1st year.” Camp wants to see lower taxes on smaller businesses and scaled back aid sent to foreign countries.
Camp is the chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, a body that drafts the legislation and tax policy pertaining to several programs such as Medicare, Social Security and other entitlements.
Camp said he was opposed to raising the national debt ceiling, currently at $14.2 trillion. Technically the U.S. reached that ceiling this week but Department of Treasury officials say they have flexibility to move money around so that the nation doesn’t officially hit that limit until August. Still, Camp and other House Republicans say no deal unless they see broad cuts and reforms.
“Forty cents of every dollar that we spend is borrowed,” he said. “Spending more means we borrow more and what we need to do is reduce the borrowing because our borrowing is 100 percent of everything we produce in the USA.”
However critics of the House GOP plan, penned by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, say it doesn’t address issues related to aging infrastructure. They also call reforms to Medicare drastic measures.
In April, President Obama released a spending plan designed to cut the deficit by $4 trillion over 12 years. It contains a mix of spending cuts, but also requires tax increases on the wealthiest of Americans.
