Columns

    If anyone had said last Christmas that 2011 would be a year of revolutions in the Arab world that would spread from one country to the next, that person would not have been believed.

    Yet, that is exactly what has happened, and the United States has been caught off guard as much as any other country. By the time the administration was digesting what happened in Tunisia – where popular uprisings led the strongman president to leave – it had already spread to Egypt.

I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women and children.

Over the last few weeks the debate in Congress has largely centered around the fiscal challenges that our country is facing and the out-of-control government spending that continues to plague our economy. While there is no doubt that the passage of a federal budget that brings government spending under control was of utmost importance, Congress must not neglect its responsibility and authority regarding the use of force in Libya.

This past week House Republicans continued to take action to bring real change to Washington by passing a long term budget plan for 2012 and beyond, which stops spending money we don’t have, lifts our crushing debt burden, and helps promote job creation.