September 15, 2015: Our speaker today was Mark Sanford, representative to the 113th Congress to which he was elected in 2013. He previously was a governor of the state and a congressional representative from 2009 to 2011. He grew up near Beaufort, SC, graduated from Furman University and completed an MBA at the University of Virginia.
After a brief reflection on remembrance of the 9/11 attack he gave us an insider’s look at Congress and its place in today’s world scene. He rhetorically asked the question “Where do we go from here?” be it post 9/11 or the current situation in Washington. He believes that the recent rise of attention to Donald Trump reflects the frustration of the people with the operation or non-operation of their government. They are looking for someone like Trump who says he will go to Washington and “break some china”. The central crisis in Washington surrounds the question of where the public’s money will be spent. In the normal course of business 2/3 of the budget cannot be touched as it reflects ongoing entitlements. The remaining 1/3 is divided into 12 parts, one of which is the highway transportation budget. Members used to deliberate these 12 categories through cuts and compromises, but currently they just spend without regard as to whether money exists. One “solution” has been to cluster everything into omnibus bills and wait until the last instant on December 20th, when most members are more interested in going home for the holiday break than negotiating a funding and spending plan. The usual response has been to vote for a continuing resolution [CR], i.e. no debate, no change. In the next few weeks Congress must focus on the need to raise the budget ceiling for which there are two choices: raise taxes or borrow money. He cautioned that within 10 years 100% of the budget will pay for interest and entitlements and nothing else.
In the coming weeks the topics of interest will be raising the budget cap, creating a highway bill and working on tax reform. He gave several examples of potential major conflict: There is interest in spending money to assess east coast off shore drilling for oil, but no one is asking where the massive ON SHORE service industry needed to support the drilling would be located? In reality there is no place for it. Another question is whether to keep prisoners at Guantanamo or move them to the USA mainland. But, instead of talking about the geographic location of the prison we should be asking the question: “how long is it appropriate to indefinitely house uncharged prisoners?. This issue requires a national debate.
Responding to a question about legislative reform he cited an example. Billions of dollars each year go to the sugar industry subsidy which costs $4 per taxpayer per year. No citizen’s organization will fight to remove this small amount, knowing that the sugar industry will send a massive group of lobbyists to Washington to block any changes
Submitted by Fred Sales, Keyway Committee