Plain talk from US Senator Rubio (R-Florida), from the floor of the US Senate on July 30, 2011:
And here’s the way I would describe it the United States of America more or less -- these are rough numbers but they’re accurate – spends about $300 billion a month. It has $180 billion a month that comes to the federal government through taxes and other sources of revenue and that means that in order to meet its bills at the end of every month it needs to borrow $120 billion.
“Now, for much of the history of this country, there have been increases in the debt limit and the ability to borrow money. But what has happened over the last few years is that it's no longer a routine vote because the people who give us our credit rating are saying too much of the money that you spend every month is borrowed and we want you to show us how over the next ten years you are going to borrow less as a percentage of what you spend.
“And so that's why, for years, where the debt limit was routine vote, it no longer can be. It’s not something that was made up in some conservative think tank. But the reality that we cannot continue to borrow 40% to 41% of every penny that the government spends has brought us to this point.
“So you would think that seeing that, our government and our leaders here in both parties would react to that immediately and work on it.
“And I've heard lot of talk today about delaying tactics and delaying votes. I would argue to you that this issue has been delayed at least for the last two and a half years.
“In the two years before I even came here, this chamber neither proposed nor passed a budget. It is a startling figure that for the last two years this government has operated without a budget. So think about that. Two years have gone by without a budget. The first two years that the President was the president, no budgets.
Source: www.realclearpolitics.com
Showing posts with label Debt Ceiling Bill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Debt Ceiling Bill. Show all posts
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Democrats Delay, GOP Moves Forward
From US Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) in the National Review online edition:
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid chose tonight to delay, and not vote on his plan to raise the debt ceiling. Republicans requested over and over, on the Senate floor, to vote on the Reid plan tonight. The Congress needs to move past the Reid plan, which cannot pass the Senate, and cannot pass the House of Representatives. The Reid plan, full of gimmicks and budgetary tricks, hands the president another credit card to max out through his reelection — the biggest credit card in history.
The plan Republicans support avoids default, cuts spending, caps future spending, and balances the budget. This approach is supported by 60 percent of Americans. With the Democrats’ latest delay on a real solution to our nation’s fiscal problems, they bring us closer to default. We have just four days left.
America needs a credible plan for cutting spending. Instead of plans, they ask Americans to tweet #compromise while putting out slogans such as the “Boehner Drop.” This is not governing, this is politics as usual, and the American taxpayer foots the bill.
Without a serious effort to cut debt and prevent default, President Obama will be presiding over the first-ever downgrade of our nation’s creditworthiness. This will raise interest rates, a “debt tax,” on all Americans, which may cost by some estimates $100 billion a year. An anxious market has already lost over 530 points this week.
While Republicans offer solutions week after week, it’s the default Democrats who say no time and time again. Democrats were the only ones talking about a government shutdown during the debate over funding the government just a few short months ago. Now they are repeating that same playbook of scare tactics and electoral politics, with much higher stakes: our nation’s economy, an economy that we found out on Friday is not growing nearly fast enough to reduce unemployment. Democrats, if serious about avoiding a rating downgrade, will quickly move past the Reid plan. And the Congress should move forward with a plan that strengthens our financial future.
For more from the National Review online: http://www.nationalreview.com
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid chose tonight to delay, and not vote on his plan to raise the debt ceiling. Republicans requested over and over, on the Senate floor, to vote on the Reid plan tonight. The Congress needs to move past the Reid plan, which cannot pass the Senate, and cannot pass the House of Representatives. The Reid plan, full of gimmicks and budgetary tricks, hands the president another credit card to max out through his reelection — the biggest credit card in history.
The plan Republicans support avoids default, cuts spending, caps future spending, and balances the budget. This approach is supported by 60 percent of Americans. With the Democrats’ latest delay on a real solution to our nation’s fiscal problems, they bring us closer to default. We have just four days left.
America needs a credible plan for cutting spending. Instead of plans, they ask Americans to tweet #compromise while putting out slogans such as the “Boehner Drop.” This is not governing, this is politics as usual, and the American taxpayer foots the bill.
Without a serious effort to cut debt and prevent default, President Obama will be presiding over the first-ever downgrade of our nation’s creditworthiness. This will raise interest rates, a “debt tax,” on all Americans, which may cost by some estimates $100 billion a year. An anxious market has already lost over 530 points this week.
While Republicans offer solutions week after week, it’s the default Democrats who say no time and time again. Democrats were the only ones talking about a government shutdown during the debate over funding the government just a few short months ago. Now they are repeating that same playbook of scare tactics and electoral politics, with much higher stakes: our nation’s economy, an economy that we found out on Friday is not growing nearly fast enough to reduce unemployment. Democrats, if serious about avoiding a rating downgrade, will quickly move past the Reid plan. And the Congress should move forward with a plan that strengthens our financial future.
For more from the National Review online: http://www.nationalreview.com
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