McCarthy: President resorts to fear-based rhetoric, shows audacity by canceling White House tours instead of dealing with the real issues

 Rep. Kevin McCarthy, House Majority Whip and a Bakersfield Republican, gives us his weekly view from Capitol Hill. In his own words"

 "The past few weeks, Americans endured continuous fear-based rhetoric where the White House tried to scare Americans instead of cutting wasteful Washington spending. Doubling down on this rhetoric, this week the President cancelled all self-guided tours of the White House.  It is astonishing that he would deny Americans who are visiting their capital the chance to see our historic building rather than focus on rooting out unnecessary spending in other parts of our Federal government. Unfortunately, we continue to see an Administration that governs with tactics of fear instead of finding ways to unite us as Americans and tackling the problems our country faces in a responsible and adult manner.  Washington has a spending problem and it must be addressed, not with gimmicks, but with real solutions.

 "The current federal debt today is $16.4 trillion, which is larger than the entire U.S. economy.  Wasteful government spending must be identified and cut to get our growing deficit and debt under control. As I've mentioned before, here are a few examples of spending that can immediately be cut:

·       $4 million – the annual budget of the IRS to operate a TV production studio;

·       $1.7 billion – to maintain federal property that is not in use or underutilized;

·       $9.8 billion – closing Medicaid loopholes;

·       $10 billion – the public health slush fund in Obamacare;

·       183 – the number of conference paid for by federal agencies; and

·       $100 million in EPA grants to foreign countries over the last 10 years.

 "So instead of cutting wasteful spending, this Administration continues the old liberal mantra – higher taxes that only take more money out of the pockets of hard working American families and small businesses.  Our economy needs a strong and vibrant private sector and more taxes is not the answer. Just look at the jobs report that came out today where more workers have stopped looking for work and the number of people unemployed for 27 weeks or longer continued to increase.  We need to cut spending, reform our entitlement programs, and simplify our tax code to help spur economic growth and restore Americans’ confidence.

"Instead of fear and scare tactics, our nation needs leadership that inspires our greatness and unites us to tackle our country’s pressing challenges. This coming week, we will address one of our greatest challenges – our national debt -  as we map out a budget plan that will put us on a path to fiscal sanity.