Brooks: ‘Congress broke open our kids’ piggy banks, stole money we cannot pay back’

(Video above: Congressman Mo Brooks speaks on the House floor)

WASHINGTON — Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks (R-AL5) on Wednesday delivered a stinging rebuke of Congressional Republicans’ recent deficit spending, criticizing his colleagues for piling on debt after promising the American people they would move the country toward a balanced budget.

“This Congress broke open our kids’ piggy banks, stole money we cannot pay back, and used it to pay for a trillion dollar Omnibus spending bill that adds tens of billions of dollars to 2016’s deficit,” said Brooks. “Americans are rightfully angry at Washington elected officials who care more about special interest campaign contributions than American voters or America’s future. Will the American people channel their anger in the 2016 elections and elect Washington officials who both understand the threat posed by deficits and debt and have the backbone to fix it? The answer to that question determines whether America continues as a great nation and world power or declines into the dustbin of history.”

Brooks’ full remarks can be heard in the video above. A lightly edited transcript is below.

Mr. Speaker, America entrusted Republicans with the House in 2010 and the Senate in 2014. Democrats lost Congress because their financially irresponsible conduct and trillion dollar deficits threaten America with a debilitating insolvency and bankruptcy.

House Republicans inherited a $1.3 trillion deficit in 2011, cut it to $1.1 trillion in 2012, cut it to $680 billion in 2013,[3] cut it to $485 billion in 2014, and cut it to $439 billion in 2015. House Republicans did what the American people elected them to do . . . and in each election thereafter we were entrusted with two more years of a House Republican majority.

Unfortunately, newly released data from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reveals America’s financial condition has taken a sharp turn for the worse.

According to the CBO, the first quarter Fiscal Year 2016 deficit deteriorated by $36 billion compared to 2015’s first quarter deficit. If extrapolated to a full year, America’s FY2016 deficit would be $583 billion . . . that’s $144 billion worse than in FY2015!

Out of control spending was the problem, not taxes. During the first quarter, tax revenue was UP 4% but spending was UP even more, at 7%! Now, for the first time since I’ve been in Congress, Republican compromises and surrenders to Obama and Democrats have made America’s deficits worse, not better!

This Congress broke open our kids’ piggy banks, stole money we cannot pay back, and used it to pay for a trillion dollar Omnibus spending bill that adds tens of billions of dollars to 2016’s deficit. I am proud I voted against the financially irresponsible Omnibus.

Mr. Speaker, America’s Comptroller General and the CBO repeatedly warn that America’s financial path is “unsustainable” . . . meaning America faces a debilitating insolvency and bankruptcy unless we get our financial house in order. Further, the CBO warns that, absent correction, America’s debt service costs will increase by $600 billion per year within a decade . . . roughly what America spends on national defense! Which begs the question, “Where will the money come from for an additional annual $600 billion debt service payment come from?”

America’s total debt approached $14 trillion when I was elected to Congress in 2010. We’ve blown through the $19 trillion mark. Now, the CBO projects America will blow through the $29 trillion debt mark in a decade! For emphasis, Washington is engaged in the worst generational theft in American history. Washington steals from our children and grandchildren with a callous devil-may-care attitude so that we can, today, live high on the hog even though it forces our children into hardship and poverty!

Economic principles don’t care if you are a family, a business, or a country. If you borrow more money than you can pay back, you go bankrupt. Time is running out. Washington must balance the budget before America’s debt burden spirals out of control . . . before it is too late to prevent the debilitating insolvency and bankruptcy that awaits us.

Mr. Speaker, Americans are rightfully angry at Washington elected officials who care more about special interest campaign contributions than American voters or America’s future. Will the American people channel their anger in the 2016 elections and elect Washington officials who both understand the threat posed by deficits and debt and have the backbone to fix it? The answer to that question determines whether America continues as a great nation and world power . . . or declines into the dustbin of history.

Mr. Speaker, I can’t speak for anyone else but, as for me, Mo Brooks, from Alabama’s 5th Congressional District, I fight for financial responsibility and prosperity and against an American bankruptcy and economic depression.