LETTER: Paulsen 'Failed to Lead' on Fiscal Cliff Deal

As a graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, I learned to live by a simple creed “Acta Non Verba,” or Deeds not Words.

Too often, we see few deeds and far too many words coming out of Washington. It seems to take a crisis before anyone in Congress will lift a finger, except to point it at the other side.

Having barely avoided the Fiscal Cliff, many politicians want to hide their career-long failures by posturing--proudly standing up, pounding their chests with conviction, and talking about the broken ways of Washington.

They express outrage, frustration, and contempt. They blame others and complain. The Fiscal Cliff was avoidable. Both the House and the Senate had more than a year to settle the issue. Yet, ultimately, these career politicians refuse to hold themselves accountable.

When confronted with the notion that they are responsible for their role in the Fiscal Cliff debacle, they gyrate and scoff wildly.

Unfortunately last week, Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District Representative - Rep. Erik Paulsen decided to join the ranks of these career politicians when he disingenuously expressed his outrage with the behavior Congress exhibited.

Rep. Paulsen said in his own press release on Jan 2, 2013, “It’s unconscionable that the Senate chose to give hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks to industries like Hollywood and NASCAR but chose not to stop the devastating new tax on the life-saving and life-improving medical device industry.”

Sadly, on July 18, 2012 when Rep. Paulsen had the chance to strip NASCAR of subsidies through the Kingston Amendment (H.AMDT 1380) in H.R. 5856, he voted against it.

What’s truly unconscionable is Rep. Paulsen's repeated record of failure when it comes to true bipartisanship and problem solving—specifically with the medical device tax.

Rep. Paulsen had the chance, in June of 2012, to repeal the medical device tax and make up for the loss in revenue by closing antiquated subsidies to mature markets like Big Oil. This solution would have had bipartisan support and given the 3rd District a victory we so desperately needed.

With 35,000 medical-device jobs potentially on the line, what did Rep. Erik Paulsen do instead? He put party line politics and his political ambitions ahead of the needs of our district.Now Rep. Paulsen wants to pound his chest and claim that Washington is broken. Well, he’s right. And he should know - he's been part of the political machine for more than two decades. He helped break it by failing to take responsibility for his actions and relying too often on words instead of deeds.

Rep. Erik Paulsen failed to lead.

Brian Barnes
Edina, MN