The Winston-Salem Journal editorial board agrees with me on something.  When it comes to the so-called “stimulus” plan (better known as the borrow and spend plan), it seems like we share some common ground. 

Today the Journal writes:

Republican Congresswoman Virginia Foxx of the 5th District, who voted against the House bill, said, “There is a time and a place to discuss the merits of additional funding for federal programs. In the meantime, putting a pile of new and expansive government spending into a bill that is supposed to help the economy is very misguided.”

She’s right. The Senate should examine each of these domestic-spending proposals and remove or scale down those that most economists agree will not create jobs within the next year to 18 months.

While the Journal editorial board and I don’t always see eye to eye (ok, almost never), on this one we agree.  Let’s cut out the hundreds of billions in spending in the “stimulus” that does nothing to create jobs. Instead Congress should pass targeted tax cuts that help working families and small businesses get back on their feet.

Yesterday four former Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac CEO’s appeared before Congress to testify about what went wrong at these two companies before they were unceremoniously taken over by Uncle Sam. 

At the hearing I asked these former executives some pointed questions about their refusal to listen to concerns about Fannie and Freddie’s very risky lending practices.   And I asked them how they could justify their strident efforts to keep their regulators (HUD and OFHEO) not only at arm’s length, but essentially powerless to enforce the law.

Here are a few relevant excerpts from my questions and comments at the congressional hearings:

Rep. Virginia Foxx: ”How do we test for ethics?  How do we test for a sense of vision? How do we test for people who will look at the full spectrum of issues, not just always looking for the sunny side of the street?

“We need people who will understand how to deal with crisis.  You’re saying it’s unfair to ask you to work in situations of crisis.  What in the world were you getting paid millions of dollars to do? Simply ride the gravy train and always be there when things were good?

“For heaven’s sake, did you not have any sense that anything could ever go wrong under your watch and that you weren’t responsible for that? 

“You have exhibited no sense of accountability for your actions here.  None.  And that is disturbing to me and the American people.”

You’ll recall that Treasury Secretary Paulson helped the feds take over these two massive lenders earlier this year, pledging $100 billion of your tax dollars for each.  Why?  According to testimony given (PDF) at yesterday’s hearing Fannie and Freddie took on more than $4.6 trillion in risky loans.  In total the two are responsible for 34 percent of all subprime loans and 60 percent of Alt-A loans according to this testimony. 

Taking on this kind of risk eventually brought both of the lenders down.  And now every tax-paying American is footing the bill.

Bloomberg News has reported some incredible news.  The headline is “Fed Pledges Top $7.4 Trillion to Ease Frozen Credit”. 

That’s not a typo.  It’s $7.4 trillion in bailout cash, that according to Bloomberg, is $24,000 for every man, woman, and child in the United States.   Put in perspective, the article finds that this is the equivalent of half the value of everything produced in the U.S. last year—half the value of every house built, every car manufactured, every ad placed in the newspaper or served on the Web, every bag of groceries bought, every custom piece of glass cut by the local hardware store: half of everything. 

Your tax dollars at work.  And now we’re hearing about $325 billion in bailouts and loan guarantees for Citibank.

This is one more reason for legislation like that which I introduced last week to cut the $700 bailout in half.  (A bailout plan that I opposed from the start).  But this article also demonstrates the need for Congress to take a serious look at the financial activities of the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, and the FDIC.

Bloomberg has the context:

Most of the spending programs are run out of the New York Fed, whose president, Timothy Geithner, is said to be President- elect Barack Obama’s choice to be Treasury Secretary.

The money that’s been pledged is equivalent to $24,000 for every man, woman and child in the country. It’s nine times what the U.S. has spent so far on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Congressional Budget Office figures. It could pay off more than half the country’s mortgages.

“It’s unprecedented,” said Bob Eisenbeis, chief monetary economist at Vineland, New Jersey-based Cumberland Advisors Inc. and an economist for the Atlanta Fed for 10 years until January. “The backlash has begun already. Congress is taking a lot of hits from their constituents because they got snookered on the TARP big time. There’s a lot of supposedly smart people who look to be totally incompetent and it’s all going to fall on the taxpayer.” 

And the rough breakdown of the $7.4 trillion, according to Bloomberg News:

“Bernanke’s Fed is responsible for $4.4 trillion of pledges, or 60 percent of the total commitment of $7.4 trillion, based on data compiled by Bloomberg concerning U.S. bailout steps started a year ago…

The FDIC, chaired by Sheila Bair, is contributing 20 percent of total rescue commitments. The FDIC’s $1.4 trillion in guarantees will amount to a bank subsidy of as much as $54 billion over three years, or $18 billion a year, because borrowers will pay a lower interest rate than they would on the open market, according to Raghu Sundurum and Viral Acharya of New York University and the London Business School.

Congress and the Treasury have ponied up $892 billion in TARP and other funding, or 12 percent.

The Federal Housing Administration, overseen by Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steven Preston, was given the authority to guarantee $300 billion of mortgages, or about 4 percent of the total commitment, with its Hope for Homeowners program, designed to keep distressed borrowers from foreclosure.

Any way you slice it, this is taxpayer money.  Your money is being used to pick winners and losers and string along entities that made terrible business decisions.  It must stop.

Yesterday I introduced legislation that essentially will cut the $700 billion bailout in half.  This measure (H.J. Res. 101) disapproves of the second half of the bailout funding, which must be requested by the president (whether Bush or Obama). 

If passed, this measure will save taxpayers $350 billion and significantly reduce our future national debt.

Media General reports:

Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., introduced a bill Wednesday to cut in half the $700 billion Wall Street bailout package.

Under the program, which was designed to shore up the financial system by allowing the government to purchase toxic mortgage-backed securities, the Treasury Department has injected nearly $290 billion into troubled banks.

If Treasury wants to spend more than $350 billion, it must submit another request to Congress. If that happens, it would trigger a vote on the legislation introduced by Foxx, which would deny that request.

I also penned an op-ed for Human Events yesterday, explaining just how this legislation works and why it is necessary:

The whole bailout concept is now completely different than the bailout that was sold to America back in September (a concept I didn’t buy in the first place). After this bailout “bait-and-switch,” why should anyone believe that the next round of $350 billion in taxpayer money is necessary or even that it will be used judiciously?

With this question in mind, I thought it was time to exercise one of the checks and balances in the bailout law. The bailout law gives Congress the power to “disapprove of” the second half of the $700 billion in bailout cash.

Treasury was allowed to use $250 billion in bailout funds upfront and another $100 billion kicked in when the President requested additional funding. Now $350 billion is in the hopper waiting for the next industry or company the government deems “too big to fail.”

Congress can stop the madness. According to the new bailout law, Congress can withhold the next $350 billion of the bailout within 15 days of when the President — whether it’s Bush or Obama — requests the second half of the money.

I am honored to be re-elected to a third term representing the 5th District of North Carolina in Congress. 

First, I want to thank God for the many blessings He has given me this year and for the past four years that I have served in Congress.  I thank my family including my husband Tom, my daughter Theresa, my son-in-law Mustafa, and my grandchildren Kenan and Rana for their love and support. 

I also would like to thank my staff and the many volunteers for their hard work and dedication.  And thank you to all who supported me with your time, your hard work, your contributions, and your prayers.  Your support is invaluable. 

You have my promise that I will continue to work hard to fix a broken Washington and to reform the old, worn out Washington way of thinking.

In Washington we need to focus on smarter regulations and smarter government—not simply more regulations and more government.  It’s time we energized our tradition of American innovation.  And of course, ensured lower taxes for hard-working Americans.  These things will create jobs and restore America ’s economic vitality.

I will also fight for tax policies that help American employers create new jobs for hard-working Americans.  Congress can encourage employers to pour investment into jobs back here in North Carolina by reducing the high taxes that companies pay on job-creating investments right here in America .

In order to get our economy back on track, over the next two years I will continue to work to decrease our dependence on foreign oil.  Energy independence is not just a matter of national security; it’s a matter of economic security.   It will fuel our economy with new investments and create good jobs for Americans. 

Back in Washington I will renew my fight for accountability and openness in every level of the federal government.  Washington ’s tax-and-spend model of government is broken and prone to abuse.  And I will not sit idly by while Washington fritters away your tax dollars.  For the next two years you can count on me to take steps similar to the no-earmark pledge that I made last year to the people of North Carolina .  

I would again like to thank all my supporters who considered my record of reform and my commitment to service and gave me two more years in Congress.  I promise you a strong voice for North Carolina values in Washington .

Last week a bill that I authored to keep down the cost of the federal government was signed into law. 
 
It’s called the Electronic Pay Stub Act and it directs the federal government to give all federal employees the option of receiving their pay stub electronically. 
 
Not only does this legislation have the potential to save millions of taxpayer dollars and reduce the government’s paper consumption by thousands of pounds each year, it will also make paystub delivery faster and more secure for federal employees. 
 
This kind of common sense legislation helps keep the government nimble, lean and out of taxpayers’ wallets.  I will continue to champion legislation to make the federal government more efficient so you can keep more of your hard-earned money.  After all, keeping the federal government accountable to taxpayers is one of my priorities as your representative.