As the battle over the debt-limit continues to escalate, GOP freshmen have wasted little time in amplifying their own views on the heated fiscal issue.
Despite a two-week congressional recess, over the past week Republican newbies have regularly offered their views on the current debate, outlining both their concerns with the country's current fiscal status and their conditions for raising the federal debt-ceiling.
From op-eds to interviews, here's a quick look at what a few of Washington's newest Republicans have had to say about the current fiscal feud:
We have a unique opportunity in the coming months to enact serious budget reforms and spending reductions in conjunction with the debate over an increase to our debt-ceiling. Some have said the two items should be debated separately. I strongly disagree. If we are even going to entertain the idea of raising our nation’s debt limit, we must also come up with a plan to ensure we begin cutting up our nation’s credit card in the process. We need a serious bipartisan effort to tackle our looming debt and deficit crisis. It’s the only way we can prevent the S&P forecast from becoming a reality.
Back in 2006, as the vote on the debt limit came up, Senators Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Harry Reid all voted against it...I think we clearly get the picture here of duplicitous hypocrisy of the greatest degree. We are at this point due to the over $5T of new debt added by the Obama, Pelosi, Reid machine. Leadership is about making the tough decisions, not situational ethics. My message to President Obama, Vice President Biden, Senator Harry Reid, and Secretary of the Treasury Geithner is simple....no raising of the debt ceiling unless we have spending control measures;
- Constitutional amendment for a balanced budget requirement on the federal government
- Cap federal government spending at 20% of GDP, put into law
- Cut the corporate/ business tax rate from 35% to 20% flat tax rate and remove loopholes.....especially for Mr Immelt and GE!
- Implement a trigger control mechanism that at a certain % level of the debt ceiling being reached, automatic budget cuts kick in, this will preclude us ever having to revisit this issue again
If these four conditions are not met, I will vote no now, and in the future! Furthermore, I will work endlessly to persuade my colleagues to do the same.
Offering her views via an op-ed in The Union-Leader, Senator Kelly Ayotte said of the current situation:
Nothing less than our quality of life is at stake. And yet some in Washington continue to believe that bold action is unnecessary. President Obama is chief among them. Having refused to acknowledge the magnitude of the challenges we face, the President has so far declined to lead a substantive debate on how we can put our nation on a path to solvency...I cannot in good conscience raise our debt ceiling without Congress passing real and meaningful reforms to reduce spending. Those reforms should include a balanced-budget amendment, statutory spending caps with sequestration if Congress fails to meet deficit-reduction targets, spending cuts to eliminate waste and duplication, and entitlement reform. It's not too late to make the tough decisions that will signal to investors -- and to the world -- that America is serious about addressing its fiscal crisis. Congress and the President must make the tough decisions that will preserve the greatest nation on earth. We owe our country nothing less.
In an interview with Fox News, Congressman James Lankford commented that:
I did not come to Congress to raise more debt in America. I came to be able to deal with the debt problem. So what we've got to do is find a solution to start bending this curve back down. That's the big issue. And people talk about this being a big game of chicken, it's not a big game of chicken back and forth. The House passes a bill and sends it over the Senate. The Senate ignores it. The Senate passes a bill, sends it to the House, the House ignores it. There are very few things we have to do together. A debt ceiling vote is one of those things we have to do together. And so this is a rare moment where the House and the Senate are forced to sit down. All we're saying from the House side is if we're sitting down any way let's take on from big picture items that we've got to be able to take on and look for the systemic ways we can solve this. This is not a game of chicken. This is a time we know we're going to be sitting down and talking, let's solve the problem, not just extend it another year.
In an op-ed on Real Clear Politics on Friday, Senator Pat Toomey reminded voters of the administration's continued irresponsibility when it comes to federal spending:
This administration is largely populated with people who believe that massive deficit spending cures economic ills. Why would they want to curb spending now?...This is the same administration that gave us an $800 billion stimulus and said that wasn't enough; the same administration that rammed a massive $1.445 trillion health care bill through Congress; the same administration that recently unveiled a 2012 budget that continues to add $9.47 trillion to our national debt; and the same administration that fought bitterly against very modest spending cuts in the continuing resolution spending bill for this year. There is simply no reason to believe this administration will agree to any meaningful spending cuts or budget reforms except under pressure. But America desperately needs these reforms, as S&P recently reminded us. Congress must ignore the administration's scare tactics and refuse to raise the debt limit until the administration agrees to put the federal government on a sustainable fiscal path.
Comments