Writer: Shea-Porter committed to fiscal responsibility

Thursday, March 11, 2010

To the Editor:

Congratulations to our congresswoman, Carol Shea- Porter, for her commitment to fiscal responsibility.

She was a proud co-sponsor of Pay-As-You-Go legislation, which requires that any new spending measures in the budget be offset by changes in other funds, so there is zero net effect on the budget. It passed in the House, but when it passed in the Senate all 60 Democrats voted for it and all 40 Republicans voted against it.

Recently, the proposal to create a Deficit Reduction Commission, a bipartisan committee of 18 members, which would offer to both branches of Congress proposals to reduce the deficit, was defeated in the Senate with a majority of Republicans voting against it. All proposals passed by this Commission would be bipartisan since the Republicans acting alone could block them. It is surprising that there was not Republican support. Congresswoman Shea-Porter fully supports the formation of this Commission.

Our congresswoman is committed to keeping government spending under control. In one of her recent newsletters she commented: “We also need to be fiscally responsible … Opponents of good government can no longer criticize worthy programs because they may raise taxes – because PAYGO prevents it. PAYGO is the key to budget discipline, and I am happy to support it.”

I could not agree more.

NANCY GREANEY

Merrimack