While the United States climbs closer to being nearly $35 trillion in debt, the American people and the U.S. government operate under two completely different sets of rules, with the government borrowing money that it “never pays” back, Joe Penland Sr., the founder of Joe from Texas, a grassroots organization, said during an interview on Breitbart News Saturday.
Penland and his organization have released a contract known as the Contract From The American People, which asks for a “commitment” from candidates running for president to “pursue the following agenda” of reigning in spending and helping to “control the national debt,” setting up a “mechanism to help control debt” in the long-term, securing the southern border, and tackling illegal immigration, among other issues.
“The contract is similar to what Newt Gingrich and the Republicans did,” Penland explained. “When they had a contract with America that if they got elected again, they would get certain things through Congress to get voted on. They couldn’t guarantee them being passed.”
In 1994, then-House Minority Whip Gingrich introduced a contract to reduce taxes, cut back on the size of government, and work to make Congress more transparent, which more than 300 Republican candidates signed.
“This contract is similar to that,” Penland added. “We have, when I crisscross America and I talk to people, they say, ‘Joe, our vote doesn’t count.’ Well, I want people to vote and I want you to know your vote does count.”
The Contract From The American People, which Penland is introducing, has ten main pillars or key components to it that they are asking candidates for president to pledge to make a “priority.”
Among the key components are for candidates to pledge to “reign in spending and control the national debt,” “set up a mechanism to help control debt for the long-term,” “secure our border and reign in illegal immigration,” and “support the enforcement of our laws and have a zero-tolerance policy for serious crime.”
Other key components that presidential candidates are asked to pledge to are to “implement energy policies that boost” the economy, “control the excess inflation,” “fight corruption at every level of government,” “make school choice and security a priority,” “implement mandatory financial literacy and civic responsibility” in education, and to adopt term limits.
“This contract starts, it has ten things. One is reigning in the spending, one is setting up a mechanism to help control the spending for the long term. We have to bind Congress with a Constitutional amendment that will make them do certain things. Make them have a budget on time, make them stay on budget, because obviously, they’re not going to do it, they’re just going to continue to grow this debt.”
“There’s a whole lot of things here, from securing the border to reigning in our costs to make sure we don’t let social security run out that would bankrupt 68 million people in this country, double the poverty rate overnight,” Penland added. “We’ve got so many things that are all tied to the debt. Understanding that this country has a lot of problems, but if we don’t control our debt, get this thing under control very shortly, then the other things will overcome us anyway.”
Penland explained that he had grown up on social security after his father had a stroke, adding that he knew “how important social security is to America.” After finishing his education, he went into construction, adding that he has “fifty years in this business.” In 1974, Penland created the Quality Mat Company, which provides “temporary roadways and work surfaces for construction sites,” according to his company website.
“Businesses and banks and all of us operate under one set of rules; the government operates under another set of rules. America borrows money to buy a car, house, or whatever, they have to pay for it,” Penland said. “America borrows money to do just about anything, start a business, but we have to pay it back. The government borrows money and never pays it back.”
“I’ve had excellent reception, obviously with Newt Gingrich. I’ve had lunch with him, I’ve talked to him several times on the phone, and I asked him how they did what they did to balance the budget four times with Bill Clinton, pay it down twice, and he said, ‘Joe, we were standing on Ronald Reagan’s shoulders,'” Penland said. “It made a lot of sense because Ronald Reagan came into office when we had a bad problem with our economy, he left when things were a whole lot better. He just, he was America’s president.”
