Open Letter to Patty Murray and Washington State Voters

Patty Murray

On November 11, 2012, two senators joined together to engage in a collegial discussion with George Stephanopoulos on "This Week." Senator Patty Murray appeared glib and accommodating while sharing the screen with Republican counterpart Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, who stated his core principles without launching into castigating attacks.

The topic of discussion, the fiscal cliff, has brought the country and the government to the precipice of the deepening fiscal problems assaulting this country. The "fiscal cliff" came about following Congress' repeated failure to outline comprehensive entitlement reform and spending reductions in the wake of the 2011 debt ceiling "crisis". Because six Congressmen and six Senators could not agree on a proper program of austerity, Washington leaders instituted a massive sequester, along with the expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts, on January 1, 2013 should Congress reconsider and refuse once again to enact major budget reforms.

The two senators who normally do not grace the mainstream media screen for any particular reason came out of the depths of the upper chamber to report on the need for "bipartisanship" and compromise. Senator Murray wanted more revenue. Senator Chambliss demanded that Congress tackle the entitlement burden which is hurting this country and setting the nation on the same crash course that is bankrupting Greece.

Senator Murray's last remark on the program suggested that she was not opposed to letting the country go over the "fiscal cliff" if the final brokered compromise did not include tax increases on the rich so that they "pay their fair share." Chambliss rebuffed the notion of tax increases, although he has signaled his willingness to break the Grover Norquist "Taxpayer Protection Pledge."

Senator Chambliss has already received notice about his attempt to break away from his promise to oppose new taxes. Senator Murray, however, evinced an irresponsible stance on the fiscal cliff by suggesting that the January 1, 2013 cuts and tax hikes would go into effect without tax increases on "the rich."

First of all, "rich" comes in all shapes and sizes, many of whom make just above $250,000 a year, an amount declared on individual tax returns. House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy painted a telling and pained portrait of one small businessman trying to get by in a trying economic climate. A tax hike on "the rich" would include small businesses like the Pennsylvania entrepreneur featured in Congressman McCarthy's commercial. Like many businesses facing a growing burden of uncertainty and taxation, he would have to lay off workers and slow down production even more. Congressman Paul Ryan has presented the same argument that taxing "the rich" will end up hurting small business owners, the key engine for economic recovery and growth.

Aside from military spending, which indeed skyrocketed during the Bush administration, the greatest drain, doffing trillions of unfunded liabilities on this country, is found in the entitlement programs which are going broke, and fast. Credit markets will no long buy up American debt as long as the nation continues announcing to private firms a resolute unwillingness to pare back enormous liabilities from these programs. The United States already suffered a downgrade. Any pertinent refusal to outline meaningful and measured austerity will deepen this nation's recalcitrance to borrow. and creditors' reluctance to lend.

Senator Murray already has the dubious distinction of appropriating more earmarks than any other Senator, except Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Instead of arguing that the rich must pay "their fair share", the Senator from Washington should pledge not take more than her state's disbursed share of federal funds. Comprehensive entitlement reform cannot be ignored. The unsustainability of Social Security, Medicare (which ObamaCare raids by $700 billion), and the rising debt burden bearing down on this country cannot be defrayed with more tax hikes on "the rich."

Washington voters already killed the "Bill Gates" backed "soak the rich" in a previous year, most likely because they understand economics and fiscal policy better than their Congressional leaders. They should tell their Senator and the rest of Congress to do the same, and demand that both sides of Congress deal on the types of cuts to make, rather than the amount of tax increases to impose.

Senator Patty Murray must understand that for the good of the veterans whom she honors and the Constitution which she swore to uphold and protect, that she must take the fiscal cliff seriously and refuse tax increases for the sake of her state's businesses and the nation's long-term prosperity.

To the voters of Washington state, please contact Senator Murray and her colleagues and tell them to resist all tax hikes and demand that the next comprehensive budget including entitlement reforms and severs spending cuts to avert the fiscal cliff.