Missouri lawmakers divided on competing deficit reduction plans
Photo courtesy of wallyg
Even as President Barack Obama and senate leaders unveiled their plan for raising the debt ceiling and balancing the federal budget, House Republican’s went ahead and approved their own, hardline “Cut, Cap and Balance” proposal for reducing government spending on Tuesday.
The bill proposes – among other things – to cut U.S. spending for the next fiscal year by $111 billion and cap annual federal spending at less than 20 percent of the economy, as measured by GDP. It also includes language calling for the ratification of a balanced budget amendment to the constitution.
The “Cut, Cap and Balance” bill also allows for a $2.4 trillion increase in the U.S. debt ceiling, an issue that has been blocked by Republicans who have tied it to federal budget talks as a means of leveraging spending cuts.
The House’s vote is seen as largely symbolic, since the Democratic controlled senate will likely take up its own plan instead.
Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler was one of the Missouri Republicans to vote for the plan, saying it would force future fiscal responsibility.
“It’s trying to tie the hands of future congresses and force them to live within their means,” Hartzler said. “That’s what the caps are for, and that needs to be done, because clearly without them, congress has not been able to restrain themselves from spending.”
But the plan negotiated by Obama and the senate’s bipartisan “Gang of Six,” stands in stark contrast.
Their plan calls for an erosion of the deficit by $3.6 trillion over a decade or more. It calls for multiple adjustments to entitlement programs and the elimination of tax loopholes and other revenue increases. It’s a proposal that received praise from Missouri’s senior Democratic Senator, Claire McCaskill, who said the senate plan would allow the country to avoid a credit default.
“Today’s meeting gave me new hope that we’ll be able to pass a responsible plan to cut spending and avoid a job-killing government default, all while protecting Social Security and Medicare,” McCaskill said.
Talks over reducing the federal deficit have taken on a high level of intensity, even by Washington, D.C. standards, with the looming threat that the government could default on loans if the debt limit is not increased by Aug. 2. Economists have said that such a move could have significant, negative repercussions for the U.S. economy.
McCaskill and other Democrats have accused congressional Republicans of playing chicken with the impending credit deadline. In June, she said that Republicans had warped the issue to make it seem as if raising the debt ceiling would authorize new government spending. In actuality, it would merely allow the United States to borrow money to pay for spending that has already been approved.
“The increase in the debt ceiling is not to allow additional new spending,” McCaskill said. “The increase in the debt ceiling is to pay the bills we’ve already incurred.”
Raising the debt ceiling is nothing new for the United States. During the past decade, congress voted 10 times to raise the debt limit, even when it was controlled by Republicans.
But Hartzler insisted that the bigger threat to the United States’ credit rating is the deficit itself. She said it’s an issue that could only be resolved through the kind of hard and fast spending limits proposed in the House bill.
“(Bond rating services are) not saying we’re going to downgrade your credit rating because you don’t raise the debt limit and borrow more,” Hartzler said. “They’re saying that the real threat to our economy and our credit rating is because congress has not passed something like the cut, cap and balance plan.”
Related posts:
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- Missouri politicos clash on debt
- MNH News Brief: McCaskill accuses Republicans of distortion on debt issue
- Blunt against raising debt ceiling
- Missouri farmers face tough choices as USDA prepares to determine planting plans
Posted by Tim Sampson on July 20, 2011. Filed under Featured.
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