Congressman Ron Kind : On the Road - Blog : A Good Steward of Taxpayer Dollars: January 25, 2010

Congressman Ron Kind : On the Road - Blog : A Good Steward of Taxpayer Dollars: January 25, 2010: "It is imperative that we practice fiscal responsibility in government decision making."

So why don't you vote for that instead of voting for trillians in bailouts?

"In fact, I recently called for a bipartisan fiscal responsibility commission to examine the national debt as well as entitlement spending, so that we reduce the deficit and improve our long-term fiscal health."

You've been in office 13 years -- what took you so long?

"I also oppose the automatic cost of living increase for Members of Congress and give back a portion of my Congressional budget each year to reduce the deficit. This year’s giveback totaled $118,278, for a sum of $1.15 million since I first took office."

That is good but almost insignificant compared to the huge spending that you support!

"In addition, I'm also leading the effort for earmark reform. I refused to make requests in 2008 and 2009, have introduced multiple forms of legislation to reform the process, and opposed $12.1 billion worth of earmarks in 2009."

If all earmarks were gone then government spending wouldn't decrease any and bureaucrat would make the spending decisions instead of elected officials. Once again, this doesn't seem significant compared to your other actions increasing spending.