President Joe Biden signed the “Fiscal Responsibility Act” Saturday, which raises the debt ceiling and puts in place certain spending caps through next year.
Yesterday, I signed our bipartisan budget agreement into law:
—Preventing a default that could have caused an economic crisis and cost millions of jobs
—Protecting Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid, veterans’ benefits and historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy pic.twitter.com/mHpTn6wzug— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 4, 2023
“If we had failed to reach an agreement on the budget, there were extreme voices threatening to take America, for the first time in our 247 year history, into default on our national debt,” Biden said. “When I ran for president, I was told the days of bipartisanship were over. That Democrats, Republicans could no longer work together. I refused to believe that because America can never give into that way of thinking.”
While Biden was able to get the bill through Congress, the legislation was passed without the help of Alabama’s two senators.
U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) said he voted no because it didn’t do enough to address the spending problem in Washington.
We need to do two things: stop the reckless spending and get our economy growing faster.
Biden’s bill to raise the debt limit falls far short of accomplishing either of those objectives — and that is why I voted no.
Full statement below. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/ITzlDS96P5
— Coach Tommy Tuberville (@SenTuberville) June 2, 2023
“Republicans in Congress have been united in saying we need to make a down payment on reducing our deficit. Our national debt is larger than our entire economy,” Tuberville said. “Joe Biden has added more spending in just two years in office than it cost us to win World War II. This cannot continue. This bill doesn’t come anywhere close to making a down payment on reducing the deficit.”
Tuberville he wasn’t against raising the debt ceiling, but wanted it to be done with more spending restrictions.
“At present, the bill would waive the debt limit for two years—adding about $4 trillion in new debt. We would still borrow some $15 trillion over the next decade,” he said. “Republicans and Democrats agree that default would be a disaster. We have to raise the debt ceiling. But we have to lower our spending at the same time. When you max out your credit card, you can’t just keep asking for a bigger line of credit.”
Tuberville said the debt will continue to hurt America’s economic growth if nothing is done to start paying it back.
“The historic inflation we have suffered under Joe Biden is a direct result of too much government spending. By dealing with cutting excessive spending, we can also bring down inflation,” he said. “This means we need to do two things: stop the reckless spending and get our economy growing faster. This bill falls far short of accomplishing either of those objectives — and that is why I voted no.”
U.S. Sen. Katie Britt (R-Montgomery) concurred with her Senate colleague.
Unless we make drastic changes to our country’s financial trajectory, the American Dream will become unattainable for our children and our children’s children. See my full statement ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/mpO6WAwmo1
— Senator Katie Boyd Britt (@SenKatieBritt) June 2, 2023
“The United States currently has a national debt of nearly $32 trillion, and it is rapidly rising with each passing minute,” said Britt. “It’s clear that if we don’t change our dire financial trajectory, it will make the American Dream unattainable for our children and our children’s children. This issue is not only a question of our country’s economic security, but our moral obligations to future generations.”
Britt said Congress needs to get serious about solving this issue before it’s too late.
“Decisive action and tough decisions are needed to finally get control of wasteful government spending and put America’s fiscal house in order,” she said. “While I appreciate the diligence of Speaker McCarthy in attempting to make the best out of the crisis scenario caused by months of President Biden refusing to even have a conversation about this issue, we must do more.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
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