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EDI Speak Up Memo
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The Voice for Young Conservatives

JANUARY 28, 2010

The Outrage
Used and forgotten. In 2008, young people gave Democrats their vote and in 2009
Democrats showed young people the door. Well it’s time to tell the Democrats to stop
and listen up. From health care to student loan reform, Democrats policies have
consistently ignored the needs of our generation.  If we want change, 2010 must be
different.
 
What You Can Do About It
Speak up! As a conservative we must begin to win hearts and minds before we can win
elections. The process starts by educating people about what we truly believe. It starts
with you in the classroom.
 
When your friend tells you they voted for Obama, speak up. When you hear someone
saying that Republicans don’t have any answers, speak up. If a professor lectures you on
the need for government health care, speak up.
 
We’ll arm you with the facts you need to win the argument. It’s your job to carry the
message on to your campus. It’s your job to speak up! By engaging ourselves in the
debate we’ll spread the message of conservatism – the message of small government, fiscal
responsibility, and individual rights – to one campus, one classroom, and one student at a
time.

This Week’s Theme: Reaching Out to Everyone, Obama

Reaches No One
The Promise: Too Many Too Count

The Reality: As Mark Halperin told Chris Matthews: “I confess, I come here telling you,
I have no idea what they are doing based on the excerpts that have been released. If they
have a strategy, I can’t discern what it is…to me, it's still too much of a hodgepodge.”

A weekly publication by the College Republican National Committee. Copyright 2010.

Issue 1: The Spending Freeze,

What he said: “Starting in 2011, we are prepared to freeze government spending for three
years. Spending related to our national security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security
will not be affected…Like any cash strapped family, we will work within a budget to
invest in what we need and sacrifice what we don’t.

The reality: As the AP reports, “the anticipated savings from this proposal would amount
to less than 1 percent of the deficit – and that’s if the president can persuade Congress to
go along.” Moreover, this idea comes on the heels of a presidential campaign in which he
undercut the idea of a freeze, saying “the problem with a spending freeze is you’re using a
hatchet where you need a scalpel.”

The idea of a spending freeze following the most reckless year of government spending in
the nation’s history is like a man coming home to his wife having gained 100 lbs. and
saying “honey, I think I’m just going to stay at this weight.” It misses the point entirely,
this nation needs to go on a diet! The fiscal diet plan should not exempt the growing
entitlement plans like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security and, as the Heritage
Foundation suggests, must “take far tougher actions like cancelling TARP, ending the
stimulus program, and turning his attention to the tsunami of entitlement programs that
threaten to swamp our economy.”

Read More: http://blog.heritage.org/2010/01/27/reaction-roundup-heritage-responds-to-

the-state-of-the-union/

Issue 2: College Affordability

What he said: "In the United States of America, no one should go broke because they
chose to go to college. And it's time for colleges and universities to get serious about
cutting their own costs - because they too have a responsibility to help solve this
problem."

The reality: This is absolutely true, college should be made affordable for everyone. But if
the President is serious about this commitment he’s approaching it from the wrong
perspective. Most colleges receive a great deal of their funds from states whose budgets
are being squeezed by unfunded mandates from the federal government. The President’s
plan to expand Medicaid would explode many state budgets which are already seeing
decreased tax revenues because of the economic downturn. As colleges receive less money
from state governments they are forced to raise tuition, pricing out many low-income
students and leaving many in enormous debt.

The President’s plan to increase federal subsidies and grant programs is also tackling the
wrong side of the problem. Universities, as rational economic actors, will simply increase

A weekly publication by the College Republican National Committee. Copyright 2010.

tuition costs to capture the extra federal cash. As the House Joint Economic Committee
Study found,

Colleges have little incentive to control costs and tuition. By increasing the availability of
federal aid, the government increases the stream of revenue available to colleges, thus
encouraging them to raise costs and justify tuition hikes. Colleges thus largely absorb
increased funding.

Read more about why the President’s big government solutions won’t work: http://
www.house.gov/jec/fiscal/tx-grwth/college/college.htm

Issue 3: Aid to Small Businesses

What he said: "So tonight, I'm proposing that we take $30 billion of the money Wall
Street banks have repaid and use it to help community banks give small businesses the
credit they need to stay afloat.  I am also proposing a new small business tax credit-one
that will go to over one million small businesses who hire new workers or raise wages."

The reality: Another example of what the President did best in this State of the Union:
make a lot of small promises on a lot of different issues which are aimed at giving him a
political boost. It’s hard to argue against giving aid to small businesses or lowering
education costs – but it’s like handing people a Band-Aid after he’s just chopped your arm
off.

Congressional Republicans responded by pointing out the many policies over the past
year that have burdened small businesses,

The President's budget contained over $1.5 trillion in crushing tax increases over the next
10 years. . . The President's government takeover of healthcare would impose billions in
new taxes on businesses who cannot afford to finance their worker's health coverage. 
The Congressional Budget Office has confirmed that this tax on jobs masquerading in
the form of a "pay-or-play" mandate "could reduce the hiring of low-wage workers," and
could also lead to wage stagnation as wage compensation is diverted to comply with new
federal taxes and mandates.  

Read more GOP responses: http://www.gop.gov/policy-news/10/01/27/a-review-of-the-

presidents

Bottom Line: This is just a fraction of the myriad issues brought up in the State of the
Union. But by attempting to discuss so many things he failed to provide real answers to
any of them. This has been a presidency defined by speeches. Eventually, the talk and
rhetoric must give way to solutions and action. We’re still waiting.

A weekly publication by the College Republican National Committee. Copyright 2010.