Westmoreland, the District 3 U.S. House representative, told local supporters, “I’m not sure you could call going from the House to the Senate a promotion.”
The Grantville Republican spoke at the event Thursday night hosted by Caremaster, Enternal Hope Hospice and Personnel Options. Dave Lamb, of CareMaster, asked about the rumors of a Senate run.
“We want you in our Congressional district, representing us,” Lamb said. “I know how responsive he is to us.”
Westmoreland said, “It’s been a great honor to be asked if I’m interested, but the race doesn’t start until April 19, 2014.”
Westmoreland said he likes his current district. “I serve a little piece of heaven. I feel like I relate to the people of the district and they relate to me.”
Lamb asked, “Who has held statewide responsibility? Who has leadership experience?” citing Westmoreland’s time as Republican leader in the State House.
Westmoreland responded, “I’m not saying I’ve ruled it out. I have to think why I’m really in this job, and what I’m here to work for.”
At the meet and greet, Westmoreland spoke about the disharmony in Washington, D.C. “It used to be we all wanted the same thing, but wanted different directions to get there,” but now, he said, “are you an obstructionist if you’re trying to stop them from going in the complete opposite direction?”
He pointed out the increasing national debt, and pointed to a young couple in the room with their child, saying “that little baby over there owes $55,000 today.”
He said Congress “has got to stop kicking the can down the road. We can’t continue to spend more than a third more than we take in.”
He said the Republicans “finally” had a stroke of genius with the last debt ceiling agreement. “We said no more money could be borrowed unless it was for spending already committed to by May 19.”
He said the Democrats “wanted a flat amount, so it could be moved around to pre-pay their programs. They said we couldn’t do this, and didn’t think we would, but it passed.”
Westmoreland said, “we’ve put in a sequence, March 1, the sequester hits, which is cuts to medicaid providers and we’ll have the smallest Marines and Navy ever, and lose two wings of the Air Force.”
He explained, “they didn’t think we’d let it happen, that we’d cut the military, but we’re gonna let it happen. The base line will come down, which gives us the opportunity to bring it (spending) down, to reform the tax system.”
Westmoreland said, “We got ‘No Budget, No Pay’ passed,” so if no budget is passed, there’s no pay for the House or for the Senate. “We’ll shut down the government if a budget is not passed by March 27.”
He explained “we’re going to pass a bill that prioritizes spending. Seniors will get their Social Security, the military will get paid, and we’ll give that to the Senate. I bet they won’t even vote on that.”
Westmoreland said he doesn’t want to shut government down, but “we have to let them know we’re serious, we have to put that on the table.”
He said, “this is the first time I have seen a serious movement to cut spending. This is the first time we have a real opportunity to fix this.”
He admitted, “this will hurt a little bit, but it’s better than our future generations will face further on, if we don’t.”
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