INCLUDES ADDITIONAL SPENDING CUT OF AT LEAST $1.6 TRILLION COUPLED WITH SECOND DEBT LIMIT INCREASE

Washington, Jul 29 - For the third time this year, the House considered a measure to increase the federal debt limit. "The national debt now exceeds $14.5 trillion and the future of our nation depends on reducing spending," said Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Sixth). In addition, we need to maintain the federal government's core functions and not add to the uncertainty that is hampering our economic growth by approving a reduction in spending and an increase in the debt limit."

Stearns today joined the House in approving S. 627, the Budget Control Act. Explained Stearns, "This measure cuts spending by $917 billion over 10 years, and increases the debt limit by a lesser amount of $900 billion. It also requires approval of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution by the House and the Senate. When we reach the debt limit next year, it authorizes a second increase tied to at least an additional $1.6 trillion in spending cuts over the same 10-year period. This represents a step toward preventing our nation's economic collapse under this growing debt while ensuring that the federal government keeps its obligations to the American people."

Although the House has cast three votes to increase the debt limit, the President has put forth no plan to increase the debt limit or control federal spending, and the Senate has failed to consider any debt limit increase. In addition, the President is demanding a debt limit that extends beyond the next election. Noted Stearns, "Over the last twenty years, Congress and the President have acted 44 times to increase the debt limit. Ten of those 44 times lasted more than a year. The other 34 were for less than a year. A two-year extension is unusual and appears to be based on the President's re-election effort."