Fiscal and Economic
More on Fiscal and Economic
August 1, 2011. This act increases the debt limit by between $2.1 and $2.4 trillion, the biggest explosion of debt in American history. It allows the government to avoid spending reductions for the next two years while squandering our last best hope of averting a sovereign debt crisis.
I am opposed to this measure for the following reasons:
1. The purported cuts, even if realized, are far below the $4 trillion deficit reduction that credit rating agencies have warned is necessary to preserve the Triple-A credit rating of the United States Government.
Column, Washington Times: Imagine a family that earns $50,000 a year but is spending more than $88,000 with a credit card balance of $330,000. The discussions around the kitchen table are likely to be a little tense.
Proportionally, that’s where Washington’s finances are today, and that’s why the national discussion is a little tense, too.
This vote stands as a defining moment in this crisis. Every rating agency has warned that an increase in the debt limit without a credible plan to balance the budget will damage our nation’s credit. Worse, fiscal experts warn that without such a plan, we risk a sovereign debt crisis within just a few years.
Congressman Tom McClintock delivered the following remarks during a debate on the 2012 budget bill introduced by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan:
The 2012 Budget
House Chamber, Washington, DC
April 14, 2011
History walks with us today as we begin this debate.
History offers us not a single example of a nation that has ever spent, borrowed and taxed its way to prosperity. Not one.
Mr. Chairman: History walks with us today as we begin this work. History offers us not a single example of a nation that has ever spent, borrowed and taxed its way to prosperity, but it offers us many, many examples of nations that have spent, borrowed and taxed their way to economic ruin and bankruptcy.
The United States government is on the verge of bankruptcy. HR 1 makes $61 billion in actual spending reductions for the remaining fiscal year ending on September 30. Since 2008, federal spending has increased 24 percent; the cuts in HR 1 represent a 1 ½ percent reduction. HR 1 isn’t enough to make more than a dent in the deficit, but at least it reverses the upward trend in spending and points us back in the direction of solvency.
Congressman Tom McClintock, Chairman of the House Water and Power Subcommittee, today made the following remarks on the House floor during consideration of a resolution directing committees to identify federal regulations that impede job creation and slow the economy
House Resolution 72
House Chamber, Washington, D.C
Legislation will ensure debt service payments in the event the debt ceiling is reached
House Chamber, Washington, D.C. January 19, 2011. M. Speaker:
The Department of Interior issued an announcement yesterday that perfectly illustrates the irrationality of our current approach to water issues.
California’s precipitation this season has gone off the charts. Statewide snow water content is 198 percent of normal; in the all-important Northern Sierra snowpack is 174 percent of normal. This is not only a wet year – it is one of the wettest years on record.
House Chamber, Washington, D.C. January 6, 2011. M. Speaker:
I rise to express the hope that historians will look back on the 112th Congress as the session that restored American prosperity – and to express my strong agreement with the new leaders of this House who have declared that every action of this body must be measured against this goal.
We speak of “jobs, jobs, jobs,” but jobs are a product of prosperity. And prosperity is the product of freedom.