In this week’s radio address, the President welcomed the new Congress with its new majority led by Democrats. He laid out certain areas of agreement that he thinks he shares with many within the Congress that they can and should work together to achieve.
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Earlier this week, the newly elected members of the House and the Senate took their oaths of office and became part of the 110th Congress. I congratulate them all, and I look forward to working with them over the next two years.
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Since the November elections, I’ve had a number of productive meetings with the new leaders in Congress, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. I was encouraged by our discussions, and I’m confident that we can find common ground in our efforts to serve our fellow citizens and to move our country forward.
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One area where we are already finding agreement is in our effort to spend the people’s money wisely. This week, I announced that I will submit a five-year budget proposal that will balance the federal budget by 2012, while making the tax relief we passed permanent. Some Democrats have indicated that balancing the budget is a top priority for them as well. By holding the line on spending and continuing our pro-growth policies, we can balance the budget and address the most urgent needs of our Nation, which are winning the war on terror and maintaining a strong national defense, keeping our economy growing, and creating jobs.
It’s too bad President Bush wasn’t this focused on spending restraint when the GOP was in charge. I believe the lack of fiscal discipline was one of the contributing factors to Republican losses. Bush continued…
We also see bipartisan agreement emerging on reforming the earmark process in Congress. Earmarks are spending provisions that are often slipped into bills at the last minute — so they rarely get debated or discussed. Many earmarks divert precious funds away from vital priorities like national defense and education to wasteful pork-barrel projects. I appreciate Democratic leaders who have pledged to maintain our current levels of spending without additional earmarks this year. And I support the temporary moratorium on all new earmarks announced by the Democrats.
Ah yes, earmarks. This is another area the GOP took a beating for. The Dems are very smart to take this up as an issue. Whether their reforms last, or are even real remains to be seen. At the end of the day, earmarks are the "crack cocaine" of the so-called bacon brought back to congressional districts, and those in Congress, on both sides of the aisle, are hopelessly addicted. Bush adds his own idea to this problem, but as with many other new initiatives, seems a day late…
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