The Trust Committed To Me, by Mark Sanford: on Budget & Economy


Incumbents spend more tax funds the longer they’re in office

A well documented but little discussed study by the National Taxpayers Union showed that regardless of party, the longer a person is in office, the greater his tendency to spend the taxpayers’ money. It’s not that representatives become evil people--just that they’re human. Basic biology teaches how remarkable adaptable human beings are to the world around us. Unfortunately, Washington is a place where large sums of money become rounding errors. Over time, congressmen become accustomed to the large sums and the inevitable rounding errors that are part and parcel of the political process. And while being in Washington may change the lawmaker’s perspective, what doesn’t change is how hard folks at home must work to send that same money to Capitol Hill. For me this always meant less is more when it comes to term limits. The fewer number of years in office, the less time to grow accustomed to the idea that $50 million is a rounding error.
Source: The Trust Committed to Me, by Mark Sanford, p. 17 Nov 4, 2000

Deficit spending hurts private business & personal finances

Politicians in our nation’s capitol were unable--or unwilling--to control spending. Federal borrowing to cover the deficit was competing with the capital available for the private sector, which consequently was making it tougher for me to earn a living. The more money the politicians sunk into their schemes, the more expensive it got for the rest of us to borrow money. The more I thought about it, the more it bothered me. I couldn’t expand my businesses because the politicians kept expanding theirs.
Source: The Trust Committed to Me, by Mark Sanford, p. 28 Nov 4, 2000

Federal deficit weakens dollar against foreign currencies

In 1995 the budget debate led to a government shutdown. At the time of the debate, our nation’s debt was nearly $5 trillion and growing faster than the economy. Even today, in the era of “balanced budgets,” that is still the case. If we stay on our current course, we’ll continue to see our dollar, and consequently, everything you and I own, fall in value.

Twenty years ago, the dollar was worth 360 yen. Today it’s worth slightly more than 100 yen. In official Washington, this fact is indeed cause for alarm. But far from worrying that our currency has lost more than half its value during that time. Government policymakers often tell us our currency is too strong--and should be weakened even further.

Source: The Trust Committed to Me, by Mark Sanford, p. 52 Nov 4, 2000

No congressional pay raise until budget is balanced

People don’t go to Congress for the money. They go because it affords them the chance to affect policy. To ask for a salary level seven times higher than the national average is asking too much. In the summer of 1999, I offered an amendment to hold the president’s pay at $200,000, rather than double it to $400,000. The amendment had little to do with the president’s compensation package, which in total is worth several million dollars a year. It had everything to do with a glass ceiling on member pay. Members knew they could never legitimize paying Congressmen and Senators more than the president’s visible wage.

All these machinations aside, the basic point was this: we did not deserve a raise. If the budget is actually balanced in five years, then Congress may want to consider a raise. I don’t think it will be. One of my campaign promises had been not to take a pay raise until the budget was balanced--because if Congress is serious about spending less, we ought to begin with ourselves.

Source: The Trust Committed to Me, by Mark Sanford, p. 69-71 Nov 4, 2000

Highway bills are congressional bribery

Young boys often receive party favors after attending another child’s birthday party. Transportation Committee members got the “mother” of all party favors for attending and supporting Bud Shuster’s [the committee chairman’s] mark-up. Friends of the committee and House members facing tough reelection fights got $20 million to $30 million. Everybody else got around $15 million--but only if they voted for the entire bill. If a Congressman refused to vote for the bill, or was sitting on the fence, Shuster tried to bribe them.

Others were unhappy too. Self-limited members took to the house floor and voiced genuine outrage with this highway bill.

The likely result of breaking the caps for highways would be a mad rush to break the caps on every other government program. After all, how could the other House committee chairmen sit by and watch Bud Shuster get everything he wanted, and more, and not draw the conclusion that they were entitled to oodles more money, too?

Source: The Trust Committed to Me, by Mark Sanford, p. 72&75 Nov 4, 2000

  • The above quotations are from The Trust Committed To Me, by Mark Sanford.
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Candidates and political leaders on Budget & Economy:

Retired Senate as of Jan. 2015:
GA:Chambliss(R)
IA:Harkin(D)
MI:Levin(D)
MT:Baucus(D)
NE:Johanns(R)
OK:Coburn(R)
SD:Johnson(D)
WV:Rockefeller(D)

Resigned from 113th House:
AL-1:Jo Bonner(R)
FL-19:Trey Radel(R)
LA-5:Rod Alexander(R)
MA-5:Ed Markey(D)
MO-9:Jo Ann Emerson(R)
NC-12:Melvin Watt(D)
SC-1:Tim Scott(R) 		Retired House to run for Senate or Governor:
AR-4:Tom Cotton(R)
GA-1:Jack Kingston(R)
GA-10:Paul Broun(R)
GA-11:Phil Gingrey(R)
HI-1:Colleen Hanabusa(D)
IA-1:Bruce Braley(D)
LA-6:Bill Cassidy(R)
ME-2:Mike Michaud(D)
MI-14:Gary Peters(D)
MT-0:Steve Daines(R)
OK-5:James Lankford(R)
PA-13:Allyson Schwartz(D)
TX-36:Steve Stockman(R)
WV-2:Shelley Capito(R) 		Retired House as of Jan. 2015:
AL-6:Spencer Bachus(R)
AR-2:Tim Griffin(R)
CA-11:George Miller(D)
CA-25:Howard McKeon(R)
CA-33:Henry Waxman(D)
CA-45:John Campbell(R)
IA-3:Tom Latham(R)
MN-6:Michele Bachmann(R)
NC-6:Howard Coble(R)
NC-7:Mike McIntyre(D)
NJ-3:Jon Runyan(R)
NY-4:Carolyn McCarthy(D)
NY-21:Bill Owens(D)
PA-6:Jim Gerlach(R)
UT-4:Jim Matheson(D)
VA-8:Jim Moran(D)
VA-10:Frank Wolf(R)
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