Michael Tanner of the Cato Institute in his article, “Hitting the Ceiling,” National Review Online, March 7, 2012 noted:
After all, despite all the sturm und drang about spending cuts as part of last year’s debt-ceiling deal, federal spending not only increased from 2011 to 2012, it rose faster than inflation and population growth combined.
We need some national statesmen (and ladies) who are willing to stop running up the nation’s credit card.
Ted DeHaven noted his his article, “Freshman Republicans switch from Tea to Kool-Aid,” Cato Institute Blog, May 17, 2012:
This week the Club for Growth released a study of votes cast in 2011 by the 87 Republicans elected to the House in November 2010. The Club found that “In many cases, the rhetoric of the so-called “Tea Party” freshmen simply didn’t match their records.” Particularly disconcerting is the fact that so many GOP newcomers cast votes against spending cuts.
The study comes on the heels of three telling votes taken last week in the House that should have been slam-dunks for members who possess the slightest regard for limited government and free markets. Alas, only 26 of the 87 members of the “Tea Party class” voted to defund both the Economic Development Administration and the president’s new Advanced Manufacturing Technology Consortia program (see my previous discussion of these votes here) and against reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank (see my colleague Sallie James’s excoriation of that vote here).
One of those Tea Party heroes was Congressman Dennis Ross of Florida. Last year I posted this below concerning his conservative views and his willingness to vote against the debt ceiling increase:
Press Release: Dennis Ross Statement on Debt Deal Vote
Solving our Long Term Debt Crisis Will Require a Balanced Budget Amendment, Tax Reform, and a National Discussion on the Role of the Federal Government
Washington, Aug 1 –
Washington, DC – Congressman Dennis A. Ross (R-FL) released the following statement announcing his intention to vote NO on the “Debt Deal.” Congressman Ross released the following statement,
“America is nearly upside down on the national mortgage and this legislation is not a viable long term solution to put our fiscal house in order. No responsible bank would lend to a family in the financial condition our nation is in without a realistic and enforceable plan to get their spending under control. Without a Balanced Budget Amendment in place, this deal, as with dozens of others, will barely last through this election, let alone ten years. My kids and grandkids cannot afford trillions more in debt and I was not sent here to heel like a good puppy when the President or the Treasury Secretary says so. I was sent here to do what is right for my constituents and the nation, even if that makes me unpopular or costs me my seat.”
Congressman Ross continued, “The Speaker is up against the most liberal President since Jimmy Carter and a Senate that spends more time bloviating than legislating. I do not envy him that task. No one should mistake my differences with this legislation as an indication of any problem with my Speaker. Those of us who vote no on today’s legislation will send a message to the President that 75% of the American people want to tie Washington’s hands when it comes to spending with a Balanced Budget Amendment and we know our Speaker will be there when it happens.”
Dennis Ross, son of Bill and Loyola Ross, was born in 1959 and raised in Lakeland, Florida. He graduated from Auburn University and the Cumberland School of Law at Sanford University. He has served as in-house counsel to the Walt Disney Company and as an associate of the law firm of Holland & Knight. He previously served in the Florida Legislature from 2000 until being term limited in 2008. Dennis and his wife, Cindy Hartley, were married in 1983 and have two sons, Shane and Travis.
The Daily Hatch 