Believes that Congress has a responsibility to the American people to rein in wasteful and excessive spending. The national debt is currently more than $17 trillion. To put that in perspective, that is more than $50,000 per person in the United States. High debt means a future of high interest, high inflation, and low jobs. We cannot sustain this path.
My generation elected the officials who made the decisions to excessively spend and borrow. My generation received whatever benefits were had from all the spending. Therefore, my generation of political leaders has an obligation to solve the nation’s debt problem and not simply pass the burden onto our children and grandchildren.
Actions
Supports a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution, which would control spending by prohibiting the federal government from spending more than it receives in revenues. Virginia and many other states already operate under similar guidelines. Specifically, resolutions H. J. Res. 1 and H. J. Res. 2 would require that Congress not spend more than it receives in revenues, require the President to submit a balanced budget to Congress, and require a 3/5 majority vote to increase the national debt limit.
Cosponsored a bill that could prevent another partial shutdown. Introduced by Representative Lankford (R-OK), the Government Shutdown Prevention Act (H.R. 1164), would sustain government spending when Congress misses its deadline to pass funding bills. Importantly, the bill also incentivizes Congress to do its spending work by providing full government funding for only 120 days. After that period, funding would drop by one percentage point and would continue to decrease by that amount every 90 days.
Supported the No Budget No Pay Act (H.R. 325), which suspended the statutory debt limit through May 18, 2013, and required that salaries of members of Congress be withheld beginning on April 16 if their respective chamber had not adopted a budget resolution by that date.
Cosponsored the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2013 (H.R. 24), which would direct the Government Accountability Office to conduct a complete audit of the Fed within one year of the bill becoming law.
Cosponsored the Biennial Budgeting and Appropriations Act (H.R. 879) to improve the oversight aspect of government funding and be better able to hold federal agencies and bureaus accountable for how they spend taxpayer money.