Debt And Deficit

Debt and the Deficit

Stop the insanity

As a fiscal conservative, I believe that our nation's deficit is out of control. We now borrow 42 cents for every dollar we spend. The bloated federal government spends some of that money on frivolous projects that benefit only a select group of special interests and other needless expenses. A significant portion of revenue also goes to fund Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security -- programs that are headed towards insolvency and need significant reform to become financially viable.  

Our runaway spending problem is exactly what motivated me to run for Congress. You can be sure that I am doing all I can to eliminate wasteful spending and reduce the size of the federal government, while protecting promised benefits for our servicemen, veterans, and seniors and reforming Medicare and Social Security to ensure that it exists for future generations.

For this reason, I co-sponsored H.J. Res. 2, a balanced budget amendment. This bill would 1) prohibit spending from exceeding revenues in any fiscal year unless 3/5 of each house of Congress approves, 2) require 3/5 of each house to authorize an increase in the debt limit, 3) direct the President to annually submit a balanced budget to Congress, 4) prohibit any bill that increases revenues unless approved by a majority of each house, and 5) permit waiver of these provisions when a declaration of war is in effect or in other specific circumstances involving military conflict.

I have also supported raising revenues through fundamental, pro-growth tax reform that would broaden the tax base, lower rates, eliminate many special-interest loopholes and deductions, and maintain current levels of progressivity.