Dear Editor:
Congressman Luetkemeyer gave us his version of the sequester debacle. Again we get to witness the hypocrisy and lies that are stock and trade of our congressman. He begins his treatise by telling us that this totally manufactured situation is all President Obama and the Senate's fault when in actuality most of our current legislators have their fingerprints all over this, including Congressman Luetkemeyer. Heck, after the deed was done Speaker Boehner went on "60 Minutes' and said he was, "very happy. I got 90 percent of what I wanted."
Then Luetkemeyer tries to tell us that President Obama has no plans to get out of this. I guess he doesn't know how to use the Internet or Google. It took me just seconds to browse the ole' web to find: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/02/21/balanced-plan-avert-sequester-and- reduce-deficit or http://whitehouse.gov/omb/legislature_reports/sequestration
Then the congressman tries to tell us that President Obama is responsible for today's higher gas prices when, in fact, the president has no control over gas prices. Today's increased numbers are the result of speculators and the retooling of refineries that is done around this time every year as the industry gets ready for large amounts of gas that will be needed for summer.
If Congressman Luetkemeyer is lying to us about these issues then what else has he lied about? I, for one, am tired of him repeating all the tired lines from Eric Cantor, Frank Luntz and the others. And you gotta love one of his major budget "fixes" - ending food stamp eligibility for millionaires. Wow! I know that is going to bring real savings to the American taxpayer.
We do need to look hard at the budget and apply cuts, but we also need revenue. Complete austerity is not the answer. Look how badly it is hurting Greece. We need a common sense approach starting with repairing our infrastructure. Americans get the dignity of work and we get improved roads, water treatment plants etc.
The budget wins with more taxpayers and less reliance on government services. Let's stop oil subsidies to billion-dollar companies and multi-million dollar corporate farms. Let's withdraw tax exemptions for private planes and yachts. Let's also look at defense, a major driver of our debt, as we end our wars overseas. We don't need a cold war defense in the 21st century. We can do better.