This week, we’ve discussed a myriad of issues in the House. The paramount discussion, though, has been the House Budget Committee’s crafting of the budget, working on figuring out how to best allocate the federal taxpayer dollars that will be coming back to the state. They have worked hard to ensure a balanced budget, and I respect the work they have put in. The debate has centered around how best to use the stimulus funds. Many of my colleagues and I are working to use those taxpayer dollars and return them to you, the taxpayer. Other representatives are advocating what I believe to be a wholly wrong path: usage of those taxpayer dollars as a means to start programs with which we will have no guarantee of future available funds, and which will only sink our national debt even further into the abyss. While I respectfully disagree, I must take contention with those colleagues as to their allowance of federal taxpayer dollars to be used to prop up our government’s spending habits, even in one-time spurts.

Why take such a strong stance on a bill that has already been voted on, approved and signed into law? For me, it’s quite simple. While some government-sponsored analysts have insisted that the bill will only cost $787 billion dollars (as if that is a small and inconsequential amount), that number is only a sliver of the picture. It only accounts for spending this year. It says nothing of the interest that will be incurred by our government throwing $787 billion onto an already maxed-out credit card, nor does it take into account the recurring costs that the government will trigger due to newly-crafted programs. Non-government analysts predict that the true cost of the stimulus to taxpayers will be anywhere from $3 to $7 trillion dollars. Let me state that again: anywhere from $3,000,000,000,000 to $7,000,000,000,000. And this is only new spending. As Senator Mitch McConnell astutely pointed out, if you started spending a million dollars a day from the day Jesus was born, you would not have spent a trillion dollars yet. In fact, even with the “low” cost of $787 billion dollars, you would still fall quite a few billion short.

As your representative, I have a fiduciary responsibility to spend your money wisely. Spending the stimulus money on such frivolous ventures is not just a simple irresponsibility-it is completely, totally, and morally wrong. And what will we get in return for the lifelong hard work of your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren? Let’s take a look:

• $5.2 billion to “community advocacy” (read: political advocacy) groups (chiefly amongst those groups: ACORN);
• $55.8 million (lowered from the original 200 million) to “spruce up” the National Mall;
• Billions to fund a high-speed train from Los Angeles to Las Vegas; and
• An insurance exemption for companies that work on “recreational boats” longer than 65 feet in length.

In total, over 9,000 earmarks in this one stimulus bill. That doesn’t even include normal, “everyday” spending.

When it comes time, I will vote on the floor to give every single cent of that back to you, the taxpayers. While the avenues are murky, it looks like it will be in the form of a tax cut that will return $1 billion to the taxpayers over the next two years. Let me be clear: we work hard, day in and day out, to ensure that the Missouri budget is a responsible piece of legislation that takes into account the work that you put in and pay out via your tax dollars. Our body worked long and hard, through many nights and over many weeks, to craft a fiscally responsible budget. Our federal government, though, does not seem to have the same respect for the fruits of your labor. The current stimulus package is nothing more than a premium package of payoffs designed to reward the largest constituencies of special-interest groups. Here in St. Charles County, I only recognize one special-interest group: my constituents. And that particular interest group has been quite clear: you have expressed your outrage at the federal stimulus, and called on me to vote in your interest to reject the federal money and send a message to Washington that we will not be complicit in their version of generational theft. If we were to reject the money outright, it would simply go to states more willing to spend your money frivolously. Therefore, I will vote to not only send a message to Washington, but to also ensure that other, less responsible states do not profit off of your labor.

And so, we will work to ensure that we will return every cent we receive of your federal stimulus tax dollars right back to your wallet. After all, the people prove time and again that they make wise and right decisions when it comes to their money—and this is no different. As far as the big picture goes: while there might be little that I alone can do to affect the debate in Washington, those of us who hold a fiscally responsible outlook can speak quite loudly to Washington that, at least in Missouri and other states around the country, it is not political organizers or bankers or yachtsmen that come first. In Missouri, and especially in St. Charles County, our first concern is simple: We, The People.

Working With You,
Mark