In case you missed the meeting, here’s a report……

Insights from Rep. Virginia Foxx of the 5th District
January 23rd, 2010
By Erika Sloan

Facts

• Federal non-military spending went up 13% for 2009 while military spending went up only 4%. In Rep. Foxx’s opinion if any spending was to go up during a recession year, it should be military spending.

• We are spending 1 Billion dollars per day in interest alone on the national debt.

• Congress voted to raise the debt limit by 300 million back in December, they are seeking to again raise the limit by 1.9 trillion which would bring the total deficit to 14 trillion. If you divide that amount up by every taxpayer in the U.S., that is $127,000 dollars per taxpayer.

• There are 93 programs in the Department of Education, a recent report revealed 48 were not performing but no one will allow these programs to be cut. President Bush tried unsuccessfully all four years to cut some of these programs.

• Voting Rights Act was renewed for 45 years with no proof of any discrimination basically guaranteeing that a minority will be elected in certain districts no matter what the issues are in that district.

Opinions

Education:

• The problem with education is not spending, only 7% of the federal budget goes towards education, it’s the 99% federal rules & regulations that’s the problem.

• In Rep. Foxx’s opinion the Federal Government has no business putting money into education. She believes the 10th Amendment of the Constitution is very clear about this. Education funding should be the state’s responsibility.

Term Limits:

• There has been a lot of talk about term limits. In Rep. Foxx’s opinion term limits are not the answer. The problem is the way the districts are drawn.

• Without fixing the districts, term limits would only replace liberals with liberals and give the staffs* more control.

• Rep. Foxx is for instituting term limits on the speakership. Right now, the speaker is all powerful. They say to their members “vote yes or your bill will not come to the floor”. Rep. Foxx feels the same about the North Carolina President pro Tempore.

Re-districting:

• Re-districting is done every 10 years, is determined by the census and the lines are drawn by the controlling party. Lines are of course drawn to protect the party in control. The reason our representatives are not responsive is because these districts are drawn to protect them. They have to know they can lose an election to be responsive.

• Based on ten years prior experience in the North Carolina Senate, Rep. Foxx believes a Republican majority would be the only party to re-draw the lines fairly. They attempted to do this in 2001. If we have another Democrat majority after the 2010 elections, we can pretty much be guaranteed 10 more years of Democrat rule because they will not re-draw the lines fairly.

• In Rep. Foxx’s opinion, re-districting should be a top focus of the grassroots groups in North Carolina.

Q&A:

Q: Would you support a bill making members of Congress subject to all bills?

A: Yes, I would. In fact, there may already be a bill out there. We should not have a political class. In regards to Healthcare Bill, the dems turned down 5 amendments that stated “all members of congress would be subject to healthcare bill”. Important to note; since 1984 all federal employees including members of Congress pay into Social Security. Members of Congress also receive the same pension plan as all other federal employees.

Q: Why will Republicans not get on board with “no earmarks”?

A: Good question and I guarantee this will be a source of strife during the upcoming Republican retreat. Our leader, John Boehner has never taken one earmark. With the exception of my first year, I have sworn off earmarks. The argument is that the Constitution says it’s our job to decide where the money goes. I would go back to supporting earmarks if there was a transparent process. It has to be open and above board.

Q: What do you think about getting involved at the precinct level and would this have an affect on re-districting?

A: It would not have a direct affect on re-districting but you would have the ability to pick candidates that would draw fair lines. I’m all for getting involved on the precinct level. In fact, if you are interested in running for office, this is a great place to start.

Q: Is Obamacare dead?

A: Yes but something will pass because he (the President) must be able to say he did something no other President could do.

Recommended Articles:

Welcome to Rome by Mark Steyn, National Review January 25th, 2010
Click here to read full article.

Decline is a Choice by Charles Krauthammer
Click here to read full article.

My Favorite Lines from Rep. Foxx:

“The three most important words outside of the Bible are We The People”

“We don’t have enough elected officials in office with backbones.”

“We saw the Healthcare bill not as something political but as the death of America”