Hoyer Makes, and Misses, His Mark
J.D. Foster /
Over the past weekend Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the House Majority Leader, gave one of the most expansive and surprising speeches of the year. State-of-the-Unionesque in scope and partisan tone it nevertheless laid out some interesting ideas for debate.
On one top tier issue Mr. Hoyer hit the nail on the head when he said:
More than ever, it’s possible to imagine a government with nothing left to spend on educating our children, on securing our borders, on conducting groundbreaking research. More than ever, it’s possible to imagine a government of, by, and for interest payments and entitlements.
In response to this rapidly increasing federal spending Mr. Hoyer recommends raising the eligibility age and introducing more progressive Social Security and Medicare benefits. Both of these recommendations should be welcomed as positive steps toward fiscal sustainability.
Mr. Hoyer would have done well to stop there. Unfortunately, his comments on unsustainable entitlement spending were the lone policy rose along a stem of thorns: (more…)