DEFAZIO STATEMENT ON DEBT CEILING BILL
Aug 2, 2011
Press Release
August 2, 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C.– U.S. Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-Springfield) today voted against of S 365, the Budget Control Act. The bill passed 269-161.
DeFazio issued the following statement after the vote:
“Today I voted against the so-called debt ceiling ‘deal’. There is no balance in this bill. This deal make deep domestic cuts, shifts an additional $80 billion to the Pentagon, and it fails to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite cutting $2.1 trillion over the next 10 years, it is incredibly vague. It has only one specified cut, graduate student financial aid.
“There is no shared sacrifice in this bill and the ‘Super Committee’ created by this bill will not propose meaningful revenue increases. It doesn’t close tax loopholes, doesn’t ask millionaires and billionaires to go back to Clinton era tax rates, and it does nothing to address our greatest challenge, the jobs deficit. It threatens job-creating investment in our crumbling transportation infrastructure, which is a proven job-creator and would improve on long-term economic viability.
“I voted to end the debt ceiling crisis on Saturday. The Reid bill would have reduced the nation’s debt by $2.4 trillion. It would have guaranteed those cuts wouldn’t affect people on Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits.
“I will continue to push to close tax loopholes and end deficit exploding tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires to get more savings. We need to pass a fair balanced budget amendment that would force the people in Washington, D.C. to have an adult conversation and make tough choices instead of this unproductive partisan bickering that does not serve anyone well.
“I believe a balanced budget amendment (BBA) to the Constitution is an essential enforcement tool since neither side has produced a balanced budget in the past decade.
“But the unbelievable partisan bickering must stop. I will continue fighting for sensible policies to address the country’s unsustainable budget deficits and to avoid the first ever default in our history. We need to get back on a bipartisan fiscal course.”
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