As the end of our first semester of senior year comes to an end, I feel as though I have more of an understanding of the U.S. government then I did. The U.S. government is run on an extremely confusing system where things do not happen very quickly. Due to all of the decisions that the government is not making, the United States might fall off of the Fiscal Cliff at the end of this year, meaning potential recession for the entire country. At the beginning of this semester I didn't even know what the Fiscal Cliff was. Now I know that it is a hypothetical term for the result of what will happen to our country unless we figure out how to start taking care of our nations debt.
Every person in my class was given a U.S. senator to impersonate and portray for our schools mock senate. I was given Republican, Marco Rubio, from Florida. He is very conservative and I personally don't believe in a lot of his ideals. He is convinced that raising taxes will not help the Fiscal Cliff and that we need to repeal entitlement programs. Whereas, I believe that in order to help our crisis, taxes will probably need to be raised, especially for the people that can afford it(meaning top 1%). I also believe that entitlement programs should not be taken away because so many people depend on them. I am appreciative to the fact that I received him as my senator because I got to learn about the other side of things. For most of my life, I have been spoon fed the values of democrats and it was an interesting spin to act like I believed in the opposite. The speech and bill that I wrote are below:
Every person in my class was given a U.S. senator to impersonate and portray for our schools mock senate. I was given Republican, Marco Rubio, from Florida. He is very conservative and I personally don't believe in a lot of his ideals. He is convinced that raising taxes will not help the Fiscal Cliff and that we need to repeal entitlement programs. Whereas, I believe that in order to help our crisis, taxes will probably need to be raised, especially for the people that can afford it(meaning top 1%). I also believe that entitlement programs should not be taken away because so many people depend on them. I am appreciative to the fact that I received him as my senator because I got to learn about the other side of things. For most of my life, I have been spoon fed the values of democrats and it was an interesting spin to act like I believed in the opposite. The speech and bill that I wrote are below:
Currently, forty cents of every dollar spent in the US Budget is being borrowed from future generations. This is unsustainable and will not ensure future economic growth. Even though entitlement programs help half of the population, they need to be reformed because they are driving our country in a downward spiral. We need a government that helps produce more money than it spends.
We cannot afford to have anyone in America pay higher taxes at a time with high unemployment rates and slow economic growth. The only way to improve the economy is by cultivating our GDP and closing the fiscal deficit. We need to permanently extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for all hard working Americans. This extension must happen before January 1st in order to keep our country out of recession. We need the wealthiest Americans creating jobs for the less fortunate in America and therefore we cannot raise the taxes by 2.5%. If the Bush tax cuts expire, it would primarily come at the expense of small businesses. The owners of small businesses cannot afford to continue to hire workers with an increase in their taxes. With this being said, I understand the need for compromise and I am willing to support this bill excluding Section 1.
To compensate for the lost of revenue from eliminating Section 1 of this bill we must reform our entitlement programs which are bankrupting our country. I am in support of Section 3 and additionally believe Medicaid should be added to Section 3 for reform. Benefits for those currently receiving them should not and will not change, but for those who are younger, the programs need to change or they will no longer exist when the younger generations reach retirement age. Our country cannot afford to hold up thousands of Americans who will take advantage of the opportunities at hand. I propose we make the action to cut Medicaid by 25%. The US government currently pays for 57% of Medicaid expenses, therefore, cutting 25% of Budget funding would decrease the care by only 14.25%.
We need to improve our economy by repealing entitlement spending and making Bush Tax Cuts permanent. This will forge our path for escaping our debt and boost our economy with lower taxes.
Thank you for your time.
We cannot afford to have anyone in America pay higher taxes at a time with high unemployment rates and slow economic growth. The only way to improve the economy is by cultivating our GDP and closing the fiscal deficit. We need to permanently extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for all hard working Americans. This extension must happen before January 1st in order to keep our country out of recession. We need the wealthiest Americans creating jobs for the less fortunate in America and therefore we cannot raise the taxes by 2.5%. If the Bush tax cuts expire, it would primarily come at the expense of small businesses. The owners of small businesses cannot afford to continue to hire workers with an increase in their taxes. With this being said, I understand the need for compromise and I am willing to support this bill excluding Section 1.
To compensate for the lost of revenue from eliminating Section 1 of this bill we must reform our entitlement programs which are bankrupting our country. I am in support of Section 3 and additionally believe Medicaid should be added to Section 3 for reform. Benefits for those currently receiving them should not and will not change, but for those who are younger, the programs need to change or they will no longer exist when the younger generations reach retirement age. Our country cannot afford to hold up thousands of Americans who will take advantage of the opportunities at hand. I propose we make the action to cut Medicaid by 25%. The US government currently pays for 57% of Medicaid expenses, therefore, cutting 25% of Budget funding would decrease the care by only 14.25%.
We need to improve our economy by repealing entitlement spending and making Bush Tax Cuts permanent. This will forge our path for escaping our debt and boost our economy with lower taxes.
Thank you for your time.
Animas High School Model Senate
Committee: Finance Principal Authors: Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) (Carly) and
Marco Rubio (R-FL) (Cora)
Bill No: Submission Date: 12/13/2012
Title of Bill:
An Act to Reduce Our Debt and Deficit
Be It Enacted By The Animas High School Model Senate
Preamble: Whereas the United States of America is in debt $16 trillion, and since the Budget Control Act of 2011 is scheduled to go into effect on December 31st, 2012, at midnight, and laws set to be immediately modified include tax cuts to temporary payroll (a consequence of a 2% tax increase for employees), the conclusion of particular tax breaks for businesses and the tax cuts of 2001-2003, the launch of taxes linked to President Obama’s health care law, automatic spending limits on over 1,000 government programs including the defense and Medicare finances,
SECTION 1: Let health care spending be cut by $10 billion.
Sub-SECTION A: Allow small business owners, the self-employed, and
workers whose employers do not provide health insurance to have the
same deductibility for health costs as corporations and large
employers when adopting SECTION 1
Sub-SECTION B: Restructure Medicare and Medicaid when adopting
SECTION 1 to--
(A) Maximize efficiency in hospitals by--
(1) Reducing the amount of over-prescribed drugs
(2) Reduce the amount of medical procedures performed recognized to have limited benefit
Sub-SECTION C: Allow the taxes associated with President Obama’s health
care law to take place when adopting SECTION 1
Sub-SECTION D: Make health care more efficient to cut spending when
adopting SECTION 1
SECTION 2: Let defense spending be cut.
Sub-SECTION A: Reduce troop levels to 90,00 by 2015
Sub-SECTION B: Reverse “Grow the Army” initiative
Sub-SECTION C: Reduce spending related to the nuclear arsenal by $12
billion
Sub-SECTION D: Reduce US Navy fleet to 260 ships
SECTION 3: Let the federal government spending be cut.
Sub-SECTION A: Cut back on unnecessary spending when adopting
SECTION 3
Sub-SECTION B: Cut back $500 billion in government spending to--
(A) Reduce the quantity and amount given in grants to programs that perceptibly help taxpayers
(B) Reduce federal programs and agencies with overlapping objectives
(C) Eliminate federal programs and agencies that are ineffective or obsolete
Sub-SECTION C: Pass a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution to
require a 2/3 majority to approve deficit spending
Sub-SECTION D: Cut foreign economic aid by $10 billion
Sub-SECTION E: Gradually raise the normal retirement age from 65 to 67
by increasing the age by six months per year.
Sub-SECTION F: Slow initial benefit growth by progressively reducing
benefits, protecting low and middle income earners
Sub-SECTION G: Reduce funding for the arts and humanities by $5 billion
SECTION 4: Let Medicare and all other entitlements be cut by $10 billion so that the receivers of the entitlements will not suffer the cost of this nation’s debt.
Sub-SECTION A: Increase security for Medicare, Medicaid and Social
Security programs to reduce fraud.
SECTION 5: Let taxes be increased.
Sub-SECTION A: 0.5% increase on low-salary income taxes when
adopting SECTION 5
Sub-SECTION B: 1% increase on middle-salary income taxes when
adopting SECTION 5
Sub-SECTION C: 2% increase on high- salary income taxes when
adopting SECTION 5
Sub-SECTION D: 0.5% increase on alcohol and cigarette taxes when adopting SECTION 5
Sub-SECTION E: 5% increase on sales taxes when adopting SECTION 5
SECTION 6: This bill shall go into effect 30 days after passage.
Marco Rubio (R-FL) (Cora)
Bill No: Submission Date: 12/13/2012
Title of Bill:
An Act to Reduce Our Debt and Deficit
Be It Enacted By The Animas High School Model Senate
Preamble: Whereas the United States of America is in debt $16 trillion, and since the Budget Control Act of 2011 is scheduled to go into effect on December 31st, 2012, at midnight, and laws set to be immediately modified include tax cuts to temporary payroll (a consequence of a 2% tax increase for employees), the conclusion of particular tax breaks for businesses and the tax cuts of 2001-2003, the launch of taxes linked to President Obama’s health care law, automatic spending limits on over 1,000 government programs including the defense and Medicare finances,
SECTION 1: Let health care spending be cut by $10 billion.
Sub-SECTION A: Allow small business owners, the self-employed, and
workers whose employers do not provide health insurance to have the
same deductibility for health costs as corporations and large
employers when adopting SECTION 1
Sub-SECTION B: Restructure Medicare and Medicaid when adopting
SECTION 1 to--
(A) Maximize efficiency in hospitals by--
(1) Reducing the amount of over-prescribed drugs
(2) Reduce the amount of medical procedures performed recognized to have limited benefit
Sub-SECTION C: Allow the taxes associated with President Obama’s health
care law to take place when adopting SECTION 1
Sub-SECTION D: Make health care more efficient to cut spending when
adopting SECTION 1
SECTION 2: Let defense spending be cut.
Sub-SECTION A: Reduce troop levels to 90,00 by 2015
Sub-SECTION B: Reverse “Grow the Army” initiative
Sub-SECTION C: Reduce spending related to the nuclear arsenal by $12
billion
Sub-SECTION D: Reduce US Navy fleet to 260 ships
SECTION 3: Let the federal government spending be cut.
Sub-SECTION A: Cut back on unnecessary spending when adopting
SECTION 3
Sub-SECTION B: Cut back $500 billion in government spending to--
(A) Reduce the quantity and amount given in grants to programs that perceptibly help taxpayers
(B) Reduce federal programs and agencies with overlapping objectives
(C) Eliminate federal programs and agencies that are ineffective or obsolete
Sub-SECTION C: Pass a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution to
require a 2/3 majority to approve deficit spending
Sub-SECTION D: Cut foreign economic aid by $10 billion
Sub-SECTION E: Gradually raise the normal retirement age from 65 to 67
by increasing the age by six months per year.
Sub-SECTION F: Slow initial benefit growth by progressively reducing
benefits, protecting low and middle income earners
Sub-SECTION G: Reduce funding for the arts and humanities by $5 billion
SECTION 4: Let Medicare and all other entitlements be cut by $10 billion so that the receivers of the entitlements will not suffer the cost of this nation’s debt.
Sub-SECTION A: Increase security for Medicare, Medicaid and Social
Security programs to reduce fraud.
SECTION 5: Let taxes be increased.
Sub-SECTION A: 0.5% increase on low-salary income taxes when
adopting SECTION 5
Sub-SECTION B: 1% increase on middle-salary income taxes when
adopting SECTION 5
Sub-SECTION C: 2% increase on high- salary income taxes when
adopting SECTION 5
Sub-SECTION D: 0.5% increase on alcohol and cigarette taxes when adopting SECTION 5
Sub-SECTION E: 5% increase on sales taxes when adopting SECTION 5
SECTION 6: This bill shall go into effect 30 days after passage.