Guinta pledges to stop federal spending smorgasbord

Congressional candidate Frank Guinta told a Town Hall gathering in Rochester, N.H., that he would not celebrate pet projects or bring home treasure chests from Washington; rather, he will pride himself in halting such practices nationwide.

“The government will spend whatever it gets; this government is spending what it doesn’t even have,” said Guinta, the former mayor of Manchester. “I will not be a congressman that looks to have those ribbon cuttings to [highlight] the millions of dollars I brought to you. I don’t think that’s the role [of government]; nor do I think that’s what people are asking for.”



As an example of government waste, Guinta highlighted a congressional party-line vote a few weeks ago in which the U.S. government purchased a park in the Virgin Islands for $50 million. The sitting congresswoman from New Hampshire’s first district voted in favor of the bill, not one month after the president said the country needs to freeze spending. And all the while, the nation faces a $1.9 trillion budget shortfall if the president gets his way.

“I don’t think there’s a justification for that kind of expenditure, but it’s an example of why people are angry and why they don’t trust their members,” Guinta said. “We need to elect people who are going to take this budget process seriously; who are going to look what the role of government is and do everything to be good stewards with taxpayer dollars.”

To highlight the seriousness of the country’s financial woes, Guinta noted that the country’s $12.3 trillion national debt would cost $41,000 per person to pay back. He also noted that the figure is growing by the week.

“That’s what each of our portion of the debt is, and next week it’s going to be bigger,” he said. “We need people who are going to prioritize, who are going to make tough decisions about how to curtail spending.”