House Majority Whip McCarthy: President Obama fiddles as our spending continues and debt piles up

 Rep. Kevin McCarthy, Bakersfield Republican and House Majority Whip, wraps up the week with some words from Capitol Hill.

 "The fight to put America on a better and more prosperous path will and must continue.
 "The fact that Congress must vote to raise the debt limit is the same reason why some Americans need to call their credit card company to request an increase in their credit limit:  we are still borrowing too much.  We know that the status quo – continued spending, continued deficits, continued

borrowing – won’t make our credit rating better; in fact, it will be the cause for a credit rating downgrade down the road, and ultimately higher interest rates for Americans, making it more difficult for Americans to get loans to purchase their first car, their first house, their first opportunity at the American Dream.

 "Instead, the President tells us that any talk about cutting spending, cutting deficits, and cutting borrowing are irrelevant to the debt limit debate.  He is wrong.  It is relevant.  We will continue to talk about how to control spending in the short-term and the long-term so that our nation’s credit remains intact, and America’s financial standing remains second to none. Negotiations are underway between the House and the Senate to work out a budget that will seek to address our critical fiscal issues including the disastrous impact of Obamacare.

 "When it comes to Obamacare, proponents of the law should end its fixation that this is the perfect law, a law that cannot be changed even if it suffers fatal flaws.  I am adamantly opposed to Obamacare, and with the flawed roll out and the increase in premiums that are occurring, this issue will not go away.  With error messages, blank screens, and skyrocketing prices, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has proven our fears of Obamacare to be true, and must immediately provide explanations to the American public and Congress.

  "This week, I wrote and sent Governor Jerry Brown a letter along with 13 California congress members on the importance of energy production in California.  And when we talk about jumpstarting our economy, we should look at our ability to increase energy production right here in our own state. With new technological advancements in methods of safely and cleanly producing oil and natural gas, California should be focused on the economic potential of the Monterey shale formation which, according to the Energy Information Administration, is “the largest shale oil formation” estimated to hold 15.4 billion barrels or 64 percent of the total shale oil resources in the United States.  Unlike other oil and natural gas producing states, California still persistently experiences high unemployment and today relies on 50% of its oil from foreign sources, sending billions of dollars overseas that could otherwise be invested in our state’s economy to create jobs and build energy infrastructure.  According to an American Petroleum Institute (API) report from May 2011, the oil and natural gas industry in California created over 908,000 direct and indirect jobs in 2009, with an associated labor income of $62.3 billion.

 "I shared the importance of harnessing our state’s energy potential at the inaugural West Kern Petroleum Summit at Taft College today, and when it comes to revitalizing our nation’s economy, the economic opportunities are right here in Kern County.