Correspondence from Senator Alexander

December 5, 2012

 

Dear Samuel,

 

Thanks for getting in touch with me and letting me know what’s on your mind about spending cuts that, combined with the expiration of several tax provisions, have been referred to as the “fiscal cliff” because of the potentially devastating impact these policies could have on our economy.

 

Since President Obama took office, our national debt has increased more than $5 trillion. The federal government’s debt now exceeds $16 trillion. This debt will be put on the backs of our children and our grandchildren. It is time to balance the government’s books and live within our means. That’s what I did as governor of Tennessee and that’s what millions of families in America do every day.

 

That’s why on August 2, 2011, I supported the debt reduction agreement, formally known as the Budget Control Act, because at a time when the federal government is borrowing nearly 42 cents of every dollar it spends, this is a welcome change in behavior that I was glad to support.  This act created the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to find ways to reduce spending by $1.2 trillion over ten years. This Committee failed to identify additional savings by its deadline, which means automatic spending cuts, known as sequestration, will begin on January 2, 2013.

 

Unless Congress acts, the Budget Control Act requires $109 billion in across the board spending cuts in fiscal year 2013; with roughly half the cuts coming from the defense spending and half from non-defense spending. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has reported that allowing sequestration to occur while allowing tax rates to increase on December 31st, 2012, would likely put our economy back into a recession. This would be a failure of leadership by the President and a failure of governing by Congress.

 

While we desperately need to reduce spending and reduce our national debt, this is the wrong way to do it. These dramatic cuts will impact millions of families while doing nothing to reform mandatory entitlement spending, which accounts for 55% of our federal budget. Entitlement spending is growing at 3 to 4 times the rate of inflation and is bankrupting our country.

 

The President and Congress must work together on a pro-growth plan to cut the debt. That’s why I have supported parts of the Simpson-Bowles plan, the Domenici-Rivlin plan, Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget proposal and Senator Pat Toomey’s budget proposal as well as Senator Mike Lee’s Cut, Cap, and Balance legislation; which would require a Balanced Budget Amendment. Our primary responsibility in the coming months will be to prevent massive tax increases, avoid the “fiscal cliff” by dealing with the sequester, reducing spending, and reforming our tax code—if we can come together to do that, we'll see the economy boom.

 

I’m grateful you took the time to let me know where you stand.  I’ll be sure to keep your comments in mind as this fiscal cliff and spending issues are discussed and debated in Washington and in Tennessee.

 

Sincerely,

Lamar