Later this week the U.S. Senate will consider a budget resolution introduced by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) that cuts the size of the federal government in half by 2025 and achieves a balanced budget by 2017. It’s among the boldest plans presented in Congress.
Lee’s budget is based on the reforms outlined by The Heritage Foundation in its Saving the American Dream plan. With the Senate nearing a vote on his plan, Lee will visit Heritage for a preview at The Bloggers Briefing today at noon ET.
Under the direction of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), the chamber has failed to pass a budget for more than 1,100 days. In sharp contrast to proposals offered by President Obama and other liberals, Lee’s plan tackles the major fiscal problems facing America.
“Americans deserve to define their own financial future,” he said last week. “Today, we have a government that mandates, regulates, and controls almost everything we do. As a result, we have an unsustainable debt, less prosperity, and less economic freedom.”
Lee’s budget empowers individuals, not government, to have greater control over their future. It encourages savings, investment and health care choices. It also puts in place the reforms for Social Security and Medicaid that most politicians in Washington would rather ignore.
Following Lee’s remarks, The Bloggers Briefing will welcome Mark Stevens, chief executive at MSCO. The successful businessman and bestselling author came under attack from liberals for his company’s ads on Rush Limbaugh’s show. In a campaign orchestrated by Media Matters, Stevens’ employees endured threatening and hostile messages that were designed to intimidate.
Rather than retreat, Stevens doubled down. He started speaking out and received an outpouring of support from Americans. “The battle for American values is beginning and we will win,” he wrote in an email about the episode.
In a subsequent profile for The American Spectator, Stevens recounted how standing up in America today was “like being an outspoken critic of the government under a totalitarian regime.” That attitude now extends beyond the professional left all the way to the White House, where President Obama maintains an “enemies list” that evokes memories of the Nixon years.
