Less than a month ago, House Republicans heralded the “fiscal responsibility" of the Ryan-Republican budget, so much so that you might think they cared about deficit reduction. How quickly things have changed. Today Republicans will go to the floor and argue in support of the first of several permanent, unpaid-for tax extenders that Ways and Means Republicans voted out of Committee last week at a cost of $310 billion. That’s more than the entire federal deficit during the first seven months of this fiscal year, according to a new CBO report.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI): “..if you drive this country to a debt crisis, if you continue spending way beyond your means, if you spend money we don’t have that is taken from the next generation."
Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX): “Americans have had it with Washington’s fiscal irresponsibility and I don’t blame them. While families across the nation continue to tighten their belts due to rising costs and shrinking paychecks, Washington continues to spend more than it takes it"
Rep. James Lankford (R-OK): “It was the basic principle that George Washington laid out in his farewell address, that every generation should take care of the responsibilities of that generation, rather than pass it on to their child. It is a 200-year-old concept. It is fairly straightforward."
Rep. Kenny Marchant (R-TX): “Americans deserve a fiscally responsible plan to secure job growth, pay down our debts, and grow the economy."
Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA): “Paying down the national debt is a national security imperative, it is an economic imperative, and it is a moral imperative."
Rep. Tom Price (R-GA): “The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, said just a few years ago that the number one threat to our national security is not the threats that we see from other nations and rogue regimes, it is the threat of our national debt."
Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA): “The American people know that it is long past time that our government focused on responsible spending."
Rep. Keith Rothfus (R-PA): “The failure to address the debt and deficits reduces opportunity and prosperity for future generations. It directly threatens our ability to pay for our priorities like Social Security, Medicare, a strong national defense, and taking care of our veterans."
