My Letter To Tiberi, Boehner, and Portman

November 12, 2012

 
Rep. Pat Tiberi                                                  
106 Cannon House Ofc. Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20515

Rep. John Boehner

1011 Longworth House Ofc. Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20515

Sen. Rob Portman

338 Russell Senate Ofc. Bldg.
Washington, D.C.
 

“I told them to go jump in a lake.  I think anybody that takes his pledge violates his oath of office.”

-- George Voinovich, on Grover Norquist’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge                

 

Gentlemen:

Do you agree with your former Governor and Senator?  I do, and so do the majority of Americans.  It’s vitally important for you to understand this and act accordingly, which means dropping your party’s obstructionism of the past few years.  It’s time for you to behave responsibly and cooperatively, and do what needs to be done to avoid undesirable “fiscal cliff” consequences.

I’m an Ohioan.  You represent me.  You’ve signed the Norquist Pledge to never, ever raise any sort of taxes, no matter what.  It’s an absurd concept, always has been, and we all know it.  Unsign it, now!

Until you personally and publically repudiate your Norquist commitment, you have zero credibility in any discussion of national debt/deficit reduction.  If you allow yourself to continue to be held hostage by his untenable position, you will continue to look silly.

Our budget surplus of 2001 (the last time we had one) was projected to grow over the next 10 years.  Instead, it turned into a $6 trillion deficit.  How?  Primarily via spending increases by President Bush on the military, wars, and Medicare Part D (all of which you supported); revenue decreases as a result of President Bush’s income tax cuts (which you supported), and revenue decreases resulting from the Great Recession of 2007-2009.

It’s obvious you must work on the revenue side as well as the expense side, and you must do it seriously.  So please stop telling us that tax cuts equate to revenue increases and therefore tax cuts pay for themselves.  They don’t, and that’s not a serious approach.  Trickle-down is dead.  It has never worked and we all know it.

Conservative icons William Kristol and David Stockman both favor higher income tax rates.  Kristol thinks a return to the pre-Bush higher rates on top earners would be OK.  Stockman, the original trickle-down wunderkind, believes we should return to the pre-Bush rates for all incomes, and further suggests a one-time 15% surcharge on the top bracket.  If you want to get serious, gentlemen, that’s a serious revenue approach.

Medicare is another challenge.  This critical benefit program can be made sustainable with an honest and serious plan to address both Medicare FICA-HI premiums (revenue) and payments to Medicare physicians (spending): 

The last increase in employer/employee Medicare premium was 1986.  A premium increase is long overdue.  Raise the rates, make us all pay a little bit more, and you’ll be moving the program toward stability.  You’ll get support from most of the public, unless you go full-Norquist and reject this as a “tax increase”.

Then get serious on Medicare expenditures.  Since 2003, you’ve ignored the law’s Sustainable Growth Rate cost-control mechanism.  Every year, you’ve overridden the scheduled cuts called for by the SGR and have instead allowed for increases in payments to providers.  Trying to make frozen income cover rising costs is unworkable, and really bad math.  You must stop the overrides and do what’s necessary to bring down costs.  The medical industry may object, but the public will be with you.

Please understand that the public is adamantly opposed to your past attempts to privatize, voucher-ize and otherwise dismantle Medicare and Social Security.  We simply want you to ensure these programs remain viable for future generations, and we know it can be done.  Do it.

(Of course, for deficit discussions, Social Security is a separate issue that doesn’t enter into the calculation.  Let’s save that for another day.)

In summary, as your constituent, I call on you to reverse your position on the Norquist Pledge, increase income tax rates on higher incomes (if not all incomes), increase Medicare rates to both employers and employees, and use the SGR or other cost-control measures to responsibly reduce Medicare payments to providers as quickly as possible.

Thanks for reading this.

Sincerely,

 

Robert G. Jacobsen (a.k.a. Buster Gammons)

cc: Sen. Sherrod Brown, 713 Hart Sen. Ofc. Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20510