How Tone Deaf Can You Be?

It's been a busy August for most members of Congress, hosting fund raisers and even a few town hall meetings in their respective districts. I've been following the news and every time I see a clip of some poor beleaguered Congressman fresh off a $1,000 a plate shindig actually having to face his constituents, the hue and cry has been Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! Oddly enough most of them seem to want to talk about anything BUT jobs.

Sadly, I wasn't able to attend any of the events hosted by Georgia's 7th Congressional district representative Rob Woodall, but I felt sure he was getting an earful and since Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! was at the very top of the platform he ran on last November when he was elected to Congress, I knew he must be hard at work finding ways to create more jobs for Georgians.

Representative Woodall and his staff do an outstanding job of communicating with the good folks of Georgia's 7th so I was exited to see what he'd come up with when my mailbox informed me “You've got mail” from Rob Woodall. When I clicked on the little widget to retrieve what would surly be the jobs plan we'd all been longing for, I was a little disappointed with the subject line:

We are closer than ever to a Balanced Budget Amendment

Right. Okay. I get it. That's just the wrapping. The good stuff's inside.

As I began reading, the words popped off the screen: “There are three parts to my message today.” Yes! The BBA header was a tease, surely parts two and three would be jobs and more jobs. So not Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!, just Jobs! Jobs!. I'll take it Rob, lay it on me.

“First, the bad news...ocean of debt...treading water...blah blah blah” Whew. Okay. Glad that's over, now for the good stuff.

“Second, during these first seven months in Congress, we have begun to make progress in a new, responsible direction.”...ooooof...creating jobs? “America's debt this decade will be $3.71 trillion lower than projected just a few months ago.”....that's good but...

“Finally, and the best part of my message, there is great news that you may not have heard.” Jobs!! I knew It, WE'RE GETTING J O B S JOBS! JOBS!!

“...through the Budget Control Act, America has been guaranteed a vote in Congress on adding a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution...and that vote is guaranteed before the end of this year!”

Wha...?

Huh?

No jobs?

No jobs. Actually, jobs was mentioned once in representative Woodall's email: “Forcing Congress—this one and all future Congresses—to end the destructive cycle of borrowing is a game-changer for this country.  It is a game-changer for our economy.  It is a game changer for jobs.....”

I agree we have a long term debt problem but we've spent the last six months arguing about debt, over a third of which we owe ourselves, and we still haven't moved on to jobs? Not only that, but now your big idea is a balanced budget amendment? You have no idea how to get us out of the jobs crisis do you. We are on our own folks.

Incredulously Woodall adds, “You may remember that the last time Congress voted on a balanced budget amendment was over 15 years ago, and the bill sailed through the House before falling just one vote short of the required two-thirds majority in the Senate.  One vote!  Just imagine how America would be different today if we had found that one vote 15 years ago and American had been living under balanced budgets since 1995.”

There are two things Woodall fails to mention here. First, even if there were the two-thirds votes needed in both houses to get a BBA through Congress, which there aren't, the amendment would still have to pass three-fourths of all 50 state legislatures to become law. Why would any state want to pass a Constitutional amendment that would pretty much ham-string the Federal Government from helping them out in times of crisis? Aside from that there are other good arguments for why a federal BBA is a bad idea.

Secondly, we had a balanced budget 10 years ago without a BBA. Just imagine how America would be different today if we had just stayed that course and not lowered taxes while fighting two endless wars and stuffing PhRMA's pockets full of easy cash by passing Medicare D with no ability to negotiate price.

Rob Woodall is no rookie. He was John Linder's Chief of Staff for over ten years. He knows how Constitutional Amendments work. He knows we had a balanced budget when Bush became President. He knows we have a jobs crisis in America. He is not being honest with his constituents. As I said before...

...we are on our own.