Dear Samuel:
Thank you for contacting me during recent debt ceiling negotiations and legislation. Your input has been invaluable as I work to make the best decisions for Tennessee and the United States of America.
Our nation currently sits at a crossroads. When President Obama was elected in 2008, he embarked on a massive spending spree, running up annual deficits in the trillions of dollars. While highly problematic, President Obama's trillion dollar deficits have served as a wakeup call to many Americans about one of our nation's biggest problems: Our country has been spending more money than it takes in for far too long, and we are deeply in debt.
While President Obama has exacerbated this problem, Presidents and Congresses of both parties have overspent and increased our debt. Our national debt stands at over $14 trillion, and we now find ourselves at a tipping point. We can continue to spend money, racking up higher debt, lowering economic growth, and raising taxes, or we can make difficult decisions now to reduce our spending and make our nation financially solvent and prosperous.
As you may know, on May 16th, the United States reached it statutory debt limit (also known as the debt ceiling) of $14.29 trillion dollars. This is the amount of money that the United States Treasury is legally allowed to borrow without further authorization from Congress. According to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, the government would not be able to fully fund operations after August 2, 2011, and would be at risk of defaulting on our financial obligations.
President Obama and his allies in Congress had requested a vote to increase our nation's debt ceiling with no strings attached. I have stated since the beginning of the 112th Congress that this is unacceptable. On May 31, I voted against HR 1954, a bill which would have raised the debt limit by $2.4 trillion with no measures to address our debt problem.
As your Congressman, I have been actively seeking the most credible method of fixing our finances, and for this reason I voted in favor of H.R. 2560, the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act of 2011. This legislation will make major spending cuts which will have an immediate impact on the deficit, will cap spending at 20% of Gross Domestic Product (currently it is about 25%), and prohibits further borrowing until a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution has been sent to the states for ratification. Although I believed-and still believe-that this is the most credible plan yet produced to restore our nation's finances, this legislation was voted down in the Senate and President Obama stated that he would veto it. This was unfortunately done with neither the Senate, nor the President offering any kind of concrete bill. Both President Obama and various Senators repeatedly attacked the plans brought forward by the House of Representatives without presenting a plan of their own.
In order to try to find a constructive resolution to this standoff, I agreed to support Speaker John Boehner with his original version of S. 627, the Budget Control Act of 2011. Although this bill was not perfect, it cut spending by $917 billion while raising the debt limit by $900 billion, thereby ensuring that President Obama would have to ask Congress again for a debt limit increase in December 2011, instead of December 2012 as he would have preferred. This legislation also included a requirement for a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution in order for President Obama to obtain additional borrowing authority. This legislation was unfortunately voted down in the Senate as well, forcing Speaker Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to negotiate a bipartisan compromise that could pass both the House and Senate, and be signed by the President.
The final bill, S. 365, the Budget Control Act of 2011, made substantial spending cuts and took tax increases off of the table. Speaker Boehner did an excellent job in negotiating this deal, and I applaud him for the concessions he was able to achieve. This is especially important as we only control one House of Congress. Unfortunately, I do not believe that the final bill cuts enough spending or provide enough Congressional accountability. Furthermore, this legislation does not contain a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution, something that I believe is critical to securing our financial future. For these reasons, among others, I voted against S. 365. This bill passed the House and Senate, and was signed into law by President Obama. This bill is a small step in the right direction; however, it does not change the fundamental direction of spending in Washington, and we small-government conservatives have much work to do.
The debate over spending is as much about our national character and the role of government as it is about our finances. Do we want a nation where government levies huge taxes and sees itself as duty-bound to solve our every need and regulate every aspect of what we do? Or do we want a small government which maintains order and liberty, protects us from external threats, and lets us live as we please? I know I firmly fall into that latter camp, and I will continue to fight for less spending, fewer regulations, and a path to financial soundness for our nation.
Thank you again for your continued input during this critical debate, and I hope to continue hearing from you as we move forward.
Sincerely,
Chuck Fleischmann
Member of Congress
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