Our nation is a facing a debt crisis. The public debt now exceeds $9 trillion. Under President Obama’s leadership, it will more than doublein just ten years.  Economists warn that the rapidly escalating debt will dramatically stunt economic growth, because Americans will spend fewer dollars on starting a small business, purchasing goods, or hiring new workers since they’ll need to buy more and more bonds instead. Meanwhile, our defense leaders warn that the massive debt threatens our national security, because fewer dollars will be available to ensure that our nation’s military remains the finest in the world, and we will increasingly be at the mercy of foreign countries, most alarmingly China, to buy a larger chunk of our debt. At the end of the day, the debt is threatening whether we’ll leave our children and grandchildren with a more prosperous and secure nation than what we’ve enjoyed.

The crisis has gotten significantly worse since President Obama took office. With his support, the Democrat-controlled Congress has increased non-defense discretionary spending (spending that Congress controls on an annual basis) by an incredible 84 percent, and created ObamaCare, a massive new entitlement that nonpartisan studies show will increase health care costs and force millions of Americans off their current coverage. Regrettably, President Obama and Congressional Democrats have shown no interest in stopping the spending spree. Efforts by House Republicans to cut over $150 billion through the people-driven YouCut program have been voted down routinely by party line votes. Worst of all, we have nothing to show for the irresponsible spending. The big government policies have failed to create the jobs that were promised. The debt is exploding while our economic recovery is stalling. 

Republicans are committed to getting our nation back on the path of a balanced budget. I have offered legislation that would repeal Obamacare and replace it with solutions that would reduce health care costs.  Further, we have proposed to cut non-defense discretionary spending for the 2011 fiscal year (which began on October 1) back to fiscal year 2008 levels, which would save nearly $100 billion. Along with other Republicans, I have also urged Speaker Pelosi to oppose the inclusion of billions of dollars of earmarks in the upcoming “omnibus” spending bill, because earmarks have come to symbolize the waste, fraud, and abuse that has fractured the trust between the American people and their elected leaders. 

Tackling the debt crisis is a priority that must not be delayed. In addition to reining in discretionary spending, Republicans recognize that lowering the debt will require serious reforms to entitlement programs, which already account for nearly 60 percent of all federal spending and will ultimately consume every tax dollar going to the federal Treasury. Most urgently, to help get our economy moving forward, we support immediately blocking the nearly $4 trillion tax increase on families and small businesses that is schedule to take effect on January 1, 2011. A strong economy is vital to generating increased tax revenues and reducing the debt, and raising taxes now would substantially impede job creation and economic growth. Taken together, I believe these reforms will allow our nation to get control of the debt and help ensure that the United States remains the strongest and most prosperous country in the world.