Bill Owens

Fiscal Responsibility

Families in New York know that to responsibly manage a budget, you have to spend within your means.  For too long, Washington has forgotten this simple idea by allowing record deficits to become a way of life.  As our debt burden grows, America becomes more and more beholden to foreign nations like China, while becoming less able to meet our obligations to seniors, veterans, the Armed Forces and government programs that keep our nation competitive in the 21st Century.

Since being elected to Congress in 2009, I have voted against raising the debt ceiling four times.  In August 2011, I supported a compromise deal, known as the Budget Control Act, to extend the nation’s borrowing limit because, for the first time, the increase was made in conjunction with spending cuts.  Although this compromise was far from perfect, it averted a government default that would have rippled across the economy and harmed every American.  Mortgage and credit card interest rates would have increased, local job creators would have faced higher costs in obtaining a loan, the full faith and credit of the United States would have been damaged, and seniors, the disabled and veterans reliant on federal benefits may have seen a delay in their checks.

The Budget Control Act requires up to $2.4 trillion in spending cuts over ten years from both security-related and non-security-related agencies and programs. According to the Congressional Budget Office, discretionary spending would decrease by $21 billion in 2012 and $42 billion in 2013.  In light of the failure of the “super committee” to reach agreement on spending cuts required under the Budget Control Act, it is critical that Congress work in a bipartisan manner to protect our national defense and social safety net from unsustainable cuts under the sequestration process.

While the Budget Control Act lays the groundwork for putting our fiscal house in order, we can do better.  Leading economists and bipartisan commissions have concluded that we must raise revenue in addition to cutting spending to reduce the deficit.  That is why I have consistently supported streamlining the tax code and allowing the Bush-era tax cuts to expire for the wealthy. It is important that Congress now come together in a fact-based discussion and craft a serious and sustained plan that will reduce the debt and deficit and create jobs.