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Scalise: CBO Report Exposes Obama/Pelosi’s Reckless Spending Agenda

January 26, 2010

Washington, DC -- Congressman Steve Scalise today called on Congress to pass his “Control America’s Purse Strings to Deliver a Better Tomorrow” (CAP the DEBT) Act following the release of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) economic outlook report projecting 2010 deficit of $1,300,000,000,000 (1.3 trillion dollars).

“It is time for Speaker Pelosi and her liberal lieutenants to listen to the American people, as well as this latest Congressional Budget Office report, and reverse their reckless spending agenda,” Scalise said. “The ‘Rule of Holes’ states that when you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you do is stop digging! This out-of-control spending and massive debt that’s being dumped onto our children and grandchildren has led to an unsustainable budget deficit, reckless spending, and millions more jobs lost. We need to restore fiscal discipline in Washington, and the first place to start is by capping the debt.”

The projected 2010 federal deficit will be the second largest in our nation’s history. The largest was 2009, Obama’s first year as President. As Obama prepares to discuss reckless spending in his State of the Union Address, the Senate will be voting in the coming days to increase the national debt ceiling by another $1,900,000,000,000 (1.9 trillion).

Scalise’s bill, H.R. 4262, the Control America’s Purse-strings to Deliver a Better Tomorrow (CAP the DEBT) Act would require a two-thirds vote in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate in order to increase the national debt ceiling, making it much more likely to balance the federal budget. H.R. 4262 also repeals the Gephardt rule which currently allows lawmakers to increase the federal debt ceiling by hiding it in unrelated legislation. The bill already has more than 80 co-sponsors and is endorsed by Citizens Against Government Waste as well as the Center for Fiscal Accountability at Americans for Tax Reform.

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Contact: Luke Bolar
202-226-4309