Washington, D.C. – Congressman Jim Renacci (OH-16) urges members to stop kicking the can down the road and fix spending now. Over the last eight years, Congress has continued to put on blinders when it comes to our growing debt and deficit. Again, this year, right before Christmas break, Congress will once again be faced with kicking the can down the road or voting on a spending bill which should be our first step to start solving our debts and deficits. Members have a choice but today’s decision shows that they are heading for what they do best. Kicking the can and pushing these tough decisions off for the next group of elected of officials. 

"The problem in Washington is that legislators think taxpayers are providing Monopoly money down here and fail to realize that our country’s spending problems and ever-growing debt will have lasting consequences for the next generation of Americans. Congress must get serious about our spending problems and find a way to work in a bipartisan way to address the fiscal cliff that our country faces. Here are the facts. By 2023 the United States will be spending more on paying down the interest on the country’s debt than on our national defense. In 2025, we will be paying more on interest than all nondefense discretionary spending. And in the next decade, our country’s debt to GDP ratio will be the highest it has been since the end of World War II. This is unsustainable. A strong first step would be to have Congress require the Comptroller General of the United States to come before a joint session of Congress to provide a Fiscal State of the Nation in order to provide lawmakers and the country a true understanding of the challenges we face as a nation. Congress has a moral obligation to fix this problem and put the country on a pathway to fiscal responsibility. The House should pass a spending bill and send it to the Senate.  Get our work done, show the American people we are serious, and then go home."