Rep. Phil Roe (TN) has an important question for President Obama. Will he ever get serious about working with Republicans to restore America's fiscal health. Read an excerpt of his latest blog post here:
In a recent interview with the National Journal, President Obama was quoted saying he would be “happy to sit down” with Republican members of Congress and go through the budget “line by line” to address the enormous fiscal challenges this country is facing because of the unsustainable levels of spending.
The president has made similar offers in the past, like when I took him up on his offer to go over the health care bill “line by line” – which to this day I am still waiting to hear back from him. Even still, I would certainly like to take President Obama up on his offer and meet at his earliest convenience to discuss areas in the budget that can be reduced or eliminated. That is why I, along with several of my colleagues, are sending the president a letter – once again – taking him up on his offer.In the interview, President Obama claims that “everybody’s for a balanced budget amendment in the abstract.” In fact, I am a co-sponsor of H.J.Res. 1, Congressman Goodlatte’s balanced budget Constitutional amendment, which is specific, concrete legislation pending right now in Congress. It would require the next and all future Congresses to balance the budget, except in the case of wars or military conflict. Given the president did not offer any of his own solutions, I would encourage him to develop consensus around this particular legislation.