We have come to a point where we are out of money and out of time.  Our federal debt has now reached to almost $16 trillion, up from $14 trillion only one year ago.  Our accelerating debt is larger than the combined financial liability of the Eurozone and the United Kingdom.  Congress must take a stand and make the tough decisions necessary to return our country to economic prosperity.

I lament the lack of leadership the President has displayed during a time when our country needs it the most.  On February 13, 2012, the President released his budget for fiscal year 2013.  This irresponsible plan would add $6.4 trillion in deficits between 2013 and 2022 and raise $2 trillion in taxes.  The President's budget was unanimously defeated by a vote of 0-414 in the House and 0-99 in the Senate.

The Senate majority has blatantly ignored the need for deficit reductionmeasures and has yet to produce any long-term budget plan for our nation.  Despite the Senate majority's failure to lead, three members of the minority party and one from the House majority had the courage to propose legislation to restore economic integrity for the American people.

Representative Paul Ryan's budget proposal, the "Path to Prosperity," is a long-term plan for dealing with the fiscal problems we face, including reforms to Medicare and Medicaid.  While I do not agree with every detail of the Ryan budget, I believe that on balance it contains the kind of bold vision necessary to save this country and thus I voted in favor of this legislation.  This proposal passed the House on March 29, 2012, with a vote of 228-191 but did not receive enough votes to pass the Senate on May 16, 2012.  On May 16, I also voted in favor of Senator Pat Toomey's budget proposal, which likewise failed to pass the Senate.

Some constituents have asked why I did not vote in favor of Senator Mike Lee or Senator Rand Paul's budgets.  Although I applaud the efforts these men have taken towards fiscal austerity, I believe their proposals were too drastic and far reaching in the short term.  We did not dig ourselves into this hole overnight and we will not be able to dig ourselves out overnight either.  Attempts to do so risk tipping us back into a recession that woul dincrease mandatory spending, decrease tax revenue, and ultimately make our debt problem worse.

I have long believed that one of the fest shortfalls of our Constitution was the omission of a requirement for the federal government to balance the budget annually.  However, we must balance our budget responsibly in a manner that does not threaten economic growth.