Sam Johnson weighs in on foreign debt threat
Washington,
May 19 -
“We must not let any other countries hold our national and economic interests hostage.”
Today U.S. Congressman Sam Johnson (3rd Dist.-Texas) spoke out against the foreign debt threat and announced his solution, the Foreign Held Debt Transparency and Threat Assessment Act, H.R. 5319. While Johnson believes foreign investment in America shows that outsiders view our country as a safe and solid investment, Johnson has serious concerns about the full implications of overleveraging our debt to outside forces. Johnson also feels that the current level of transparency regarding China’s holdings of U.S. Government debt is inadequate. Johnson proposes cutting spending as the first common-sense step to control the debt so America doesn’t have to sell our debt to foreign interests.
H.R. 5319 would require a better accounting of debt held by foreign countries and more importantly, require the President to submit a plan to cut spending should either a particular foreign creditor or the overall debt pose a risk to the security interests of America.
In a related matter, Johnson co-sponsored legislation to stop U.S. tax dollars from being used by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for bailouts of European countries. Johnson represents portions of Dallas and Collin Counties.
Watch the speech by clicking here
Prepared remarks follow:
“Last week we learned that Uncle Sam ran up the largest deficit for April ever. Equally alarming is that our deficit is being financed by countries such as China, our biggest holder of U.S. government debt. Equally important, a former Chinese military official recently suggested the Chinese should consider dumping U.S. treasuries in response to the recent Pentagon decision to sell defensive weapons systems to Taiwan.
“To raise awareness of the threat to our economy and national security of our exploding deficit and debt, yesterday I introduced the Foreign Held Debt Transparency and Threat Assessment Act, H.R. 5319. This bill would require a better accounting of debt held by foreign countries and more importantly, require the President to submit a plan to cut spending should either a particular foreign creditor or the overall debt pose a risk to the security interests of America.
“We must not let any other countries hold our national and economic interests hostage.”
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