Boren as Congress Adjourns
Between votes in the U.S. House, Oklahoma’s Dan Boren spoke with Tulsa Today on the last day of the Congressional session. “I am sitting here in the cloak room off the House floor between votes and had a moment to call,” Boren said.
Question: Can you tell us what our tax rate will be January?
“No,” he answered.
After a pause, Boren (D, 2nd District) continued, “I think that what will happen is that we will adjourn late tonight. After the election, we will come back November 15th and within a week to ten days we will have a vote on the extension of the Bush Tax Cuts. My belief, and some will disagree, but I think we will extend all of them probably for about two years. They won’t be permanent, but I think that will be the compromise.
The Bush Tax Cuts have been the operative level of taxation for about a decade in America so repeal of those would be a significant tax increase for many.
Rep. Boren said, “The President has left a little wiggle room open for some movement there, but he only wants tax cuts for those making under $250,000 a year.”
It is a busy time for Rep. Dan Boren as Congress ends the current session and he returns home to campaign for reelection. September 23, Dan and Andrea Boren were blessed with a new baby son and just last Saturday they brought him home from the hospital. Dad reports the baby is not sleeping though the night yet, but there is hope for the near future. The child is “healthy as a horse with a good appetite.” He was born in the afternoon at 1:07 pm weighing 7 lb 5 oz. This is the couple’s second child.
Question: Why is this Administration providing billions in American tax dollars to fund offshore drilling in Brazil and Mexico while forbidding off-shore drilling for America? That oil will stay in those countries, build their economies, all the while hurting our oil industry and American workers.
“The Obama Administration has been the most anti-oil and gas industry administration on record. We knew this going in. I asked then Senator Obama in a meeting of super delegates just before the nomination about taxing oil and gas companies and taking away the tax deductions for intangible drilling costs and the depletion allowance. Obama said straight up, yes that was what he wanted to do. Luckily we have not had those taken away.
“I have introduced a natural gas bill to expand the use of natural gas. We were just getting to the point where more than the usual [congressional] players from Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas who are always pro natural gas were being joined by New York and Pennsylvania representatives when the oil spill happened. The Administration did a terrible thing by issuing a moratorium [to stop all off-shore drilling]. I understand British Petroleum and some other folks did a bad job there and that the spill could have been prevented, but there are a lot of jobs tied to this industry off-shore.
“You may have noticed that Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) has put a hold on one of the Obama Administration nominees for the Office of Management and Budget,” Boren said.
In a released statement, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) explained her hold on Jacob J. Lew's nomination as OMB director because of the Obama administration's "ill-conceived moratoria on offshore drilling that are having such a devastating impact on working people and small businesses through the Gulf Coast," she said.
"The administration, for whatever reason, has stood in defiance of our federal courts and disregarded economists, experts and its own economic data in proceeding down a path that is putting thousands of people out of work and hurting the bottom line of hundreds of small businesses," Landrieu said.
Boren said, “We are doing everything we can procedurally to get that moratorium lifted and people back to work. Beyond the jobs, this is also about energy security.”
Question: Given the Administration’s tax provided funding for foreign oil and climate change and general foreign aid; can you tell us if President Obama’s goal of redistribution of wealth is intended just within the United States or does he plan to level the standard of incomes worldwide?
“I don’t know what President Obama’s worldwide plan is, but whatever it is doesn’t matter if you can’t get it through Congress,” Boren said. “That is the great equalizer. We have separate branches of government. The old saying is, the president proposes and congress disposes and I think that after the election here you will see (as Democrats are on tap to lose seats) that government will come back into balance and hopefully much more bipartisan.
“Some of the economic issues you are questioning [the Administration] will not be able to do. They will have to negotiate with Congress – they will have to come to the middle at least,” Boren said.
Question: They haven’t had to do that yet?
“No,” Boren said.
Question: Are you the hope for a new Democrat Party, because this one doesn’t seem to like America very much?
“Well, there are so many factors involved here. It is not just the parties. They do play a role, but you have people on both sides of the isle that are extreme right and left. They don’t believe in any kind of problem solving or bipartisanship. They are looking to score political points. The far left people are not in danger of losing their elections this cycle. It is the people who are somewhat in the middle that ended up voting too far to the left and should have been more to the center. The sad part of that for the country is that we need more people who are for America not for their political party – Democrat or Republican.
“President Bush ran on being ‘I’m a unite-er not a divide-er’ and President Obama said ‘I’m going to be post-partisan and things are going to be different’ but they both went into office and governed as if only their party was going to be the one doing things and they did not listen to the other party. That is where you end up getting these really bad deals on both sides.
Question: The economic policy of trying to pump up the economy with government spending has cost unbelievable trillions of dollars and accomplished nothing. What is your economic philosophy?
“There are a lot of parts to this. Starting with TARP people were bailed out that actually made the bad decisions. The problem was that if you didn’t bail out the bad guys, then the whole economic system was going to collapse. TARP and Stimulus sometimes gets mashed into one thing, but TARP is a loan to be paid back with interest and some of that money has come back. Stimulus is direct spending. Stimulus will add to the deficit.
“I am not a lawyer. I am an MBA. My background is in economics and I have worked in a bank and in an oil and gas company. I am not what you would call a traditional Democrat. What I have learned and what I have seen is that we were in a situation and still are where private companies are not spending money because they are very scared about the economic situation, government regulation and the uncertainty of taxes.
"If you look at the timeline, TARP stabilized things. Then you have the stimulus. What I think has killed economic growth and frankly really hurt our economy is the Health Care Bill. A lot of these companies are saying they are just getting back on their feet, but all of a sudden there is this new health regulation coming down the pike and they don’t know how that will impact them so they hold cash and do not hire people. On top of that is the energy regulation bill known as Cap and Trade? Both of those bills have had more of a negative impact than the Stimulus Bills.
"We have very low interest rates right now, but at some point what goes down is going to come up and this debt will dramatically increase the national debt and our interest payment on that debt will get larger and larger. What I would like to see happen is for the Debt Commission made up of people like Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) on the Republican side and Andy Stern (indicted former union president of SCIU) on the Democrat side address the tough choices. There will be a lot of spending cuts. There will not be any sacred cows here.
“I think it is a good thing, especially right now that people are paying concerned attention to their country. Hopefully, we are going to fix some of these problems,” Boren added.
To reach Rep. Dan Boren’s Congressional web site, click here. To reach his campaign web site, click here.
About the author:
An individualist, David Arnett began a traditional journalism career untraditionally in an Aha Moment you can review thirty years ago. Arnett has long argued that government is incompetent if not corrupt at the Federal level, put his life on the line to fight corruption on the state level and questioned almost every “authority” in Tulsa at some point. Passionately belligerent in the demand for equal treatment under the law, Arnett fought for racial integration of Tulsa Public Schools and equal rights as youth liaison to the Community Relations Commission before he graduated from high school. Arnett is a communications consultant and equal opportunity aggravator.
You are encouraged listen and welcome to call-in between 4 and 6 pm each Saturday on The David Arnett Show on AM 740 and FM 102.3 news talk KRMG to discuss this story and others. You may also register free on Tulsa Today and comment below. E-mail of news tips are welcome to editor@tulsatoday.com. (This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or use our contact form at the top of the page.) Arnett writes here as often as opportunity allows. This interview is similar to one he held during this campaign cycle with U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin. Rrecent editorials you may enjoy include “Top Down or Free Up?” and "Obama's Christian Experience" and "We Can Shrink Government" and "Obama's Thinking Revealed."