Maggie Bednar stated that is was disheartening when a grad student doesn’t have a simple understanding of the government. It’s more disheartening when a political science major appears to have even less of an understanding.

Congress has no duty to pass legislation that the president won’t veto, any more than the president is obligated to sign everything that Congress passes. That is why our government has separation of powers; to keep a balance between the two. If it were the duty of Congress to always agree with the president, then Congress wouldn’t have power to override a veto. We wouldn’t even need a legislature. The president would simply be empowered to write into law whatever he feels like.

While Clinton has spoken out on a balanced budget, speaking out is all that he has done on the subject. Page 173 of his own proposed budget shows projected deficits of at least $192 billion through the year 2000. This from the man who swore in 1992 that he would balance the budget in 5 years.

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In a Congress devoted to balancing the budget, it is no wonder his budget is buried in committee.

During the first day of the government shutdown, the GOP offered a resolution that said only that the president would be committed to a balanced budget in seven years, and Clinton refused it. He only signed onto it later when the House was closing in on enough votes to override him and after it became apparent that most Americans didn’t really mind the shutdown too much.

Does anyone remember Bill Clinton lobbying against the Balanced Budget Amendment, calling its defeat the single greatest victory of his presidency?

Ms. Bednar might want to consider being fair to our children, who will have to pay an average lifetime tax rate of 84 percent just to pay for the boondoggles that the Democrats are now protecting. Can you imagine after working hard to get your degree earning $40,000 a year, yet only taking home $533 and change a month?

Where is your sense of fairness for them, Ms. Bednar?