Curt Cleaver - Debt, Deficit, Spending, and the Size of Government
2012 Campaign Website Statements
CUT SPENDING
We must not spend more than we have. We must severely scrutinize every department and defund those that are either unnecessary or return the power to the states to oversee. Many departments, including the Department of Education needs to be on the state level, not national. Returning oversight of those agencies to the state will not only reduce the debt and cut spending, it will allow the state more control at the level to provide support and direction necessary for their success.
No person, family, or country can survive spending more than they make.
BALANCE THE BUDGET
As a small business owner, husband, and father, I have always had to understand a balanced budget. James Madison, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson in 1789 said “But with respect to future debt; would it not be wise and just for that nation to declare in the constitution they are forming that neither the legislature, nor the nation itself can validly contract more debt, than they may pay within their own age, or within the term of 19 years.”
How far we have gotten away from the idea of little to no debt? Our national debt, as of this writing is over $15 trillion dollars with each citizen’s part being estimated at over $48,000. We have created so much debt, that our children will not even pay it off.
I proposed that the budget be balanced every two years, every department will be held responsible for their part, and the amount of money sent to fund other countries without repayment will be scrutinized. Obviously this would be a huge task, but with the amount of wisdom God has given us, it can be done if we work together.