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WHERE is the money coming from to pay for all of this?

By Shelli Dawdy

Earlier this week, the Senate passed a food safety bill that would grant sweeping new powers to the FDA, that would add $1.4 billion in costs to the federal budget, and that stands to hurt small farms.

As we noted in our article on the subject, Nebraska Senator Mike Johanns voted for the measure.

A GiN member forwarded me the letter, below, which he sent to the Senator.

Dear Senator,

I am surprised and disappointed at your recent vote authorizing expanded federal intrusion into the private lives of Nebraska citizens.  Specifically I would be interested in the constitutional rationale justifying Federal regulation of food production and sales at my local farmers market.  I am sure when I heard you speak at the Nebraska Republican convention I heard you advocating smaller federal government, less federal spending, and stricter adherence to the constitutional constraints on the federal government.  My suggestion would be that whom I buy my produce from for my private consumption is not subject to federal regulation under the limits of the US Constitution.  If less federal spending is the goal, expanding the power, scope, size and intrusiveness of the FDA is not the solution.

I urge you not to become like one of those political types who talk a great conservative game in their home districts, and then vote a progressive agenda when they arrive back in Washington.
Please reconsider your position on the issue of expanding federal intrusion into local consumer decisions about from whom we shall buy our groceries.

An excellent letter. The only addition I would make is to add that Senator Johanns should have rejected S-510 simply because it was unconstitutional; it improperly included fees. All revenue generating bills must originate in the House of Representatives.

The theme we all need our representatives to adopt is:

WHEN IN DOUBT…VOTE NO!

But Senator Johanns has apparently forgotten how to say the word recently and it seems he needs to be reminded. In addition to his vote on the food safety bill, he seems prepared to say “yes” to another extension of unemployment benefits, as reported in a Thursday article in the Lincoln Journal Star.

Just WHAT is Senator Johanns’ philosophy of government and economics? Support for extending unemployment compensation will not alleviate problems with unemployment. History has proven that duration of unemployment is directly related to the length of time benefits are available. These benefits have been extended multiple times – to an outrageous 99 weeks and the unemployment rate just reached 9.8%. Is it possible that there is a connection?

Those who support an extension are going to have count themselves as part of the Nancy Pelosi camp. For months, Pelosi has been touting unemployment compensation and food stamp benefits as the best methods to stimulate the economy and create jobs.

In the same Lincoln Journal Star article mentioned above, Senator Johanns indicated support for keeping the Bush tax cuts in place. That is excellent.  But paired with continued spending, it’s inconsistent with a constitutional, limited government philosophy and even with Senator Johann’s own words (see the video, below). It is, unfortunately consistent with the too many GOP elected officials’ conduct for far too long; cut taxes but keep spending like crazy and keep increasing the size of government.

That is precisely how we reached record level deficits during George W. Bush’s term in office.  Of course, President Obama has now exponentially increased those record level deficits. At this point, our elected officials can either be part of the solution or part of the problem.

It was also reported in the same LJS article that Senator Johanns said voters sent a very loud message on November 2. Unfortunately, the Senator only heard part of it. If you would like to let him know your opinion about his recent votes, you can find his contact information on THIS GiN page.