Fiscal Responsibility
Over the years, Democrats have shown our commitment to restoring fiscal responsibility by taking actions that have reduced our national deficit while investing in the American people’s priorities. During the 117th Congress, House Democrats delivered the landmark Inflation Reduction Act, which will reduce the deficit by over $300 billion while lowering health care and energy costs and taking action on climate change. In sharp contrast, Republicans jammed their 2017 Trump Tax Scam through Congress without a single hearing, gifting trillions of dollars in unpaid-for tax handouts to the wealthiest Americans and large corporations while leaving our nation with ballooning deficits. They have repeatedly held our economy hostage to benefit their irresponsible ideological agenda, whether creating artificial “fiscal cliffs,” shutting down the government, or bringing our nation to the brink of defaulting on its obligations. With other landmark legislation delivered during the 117th Congress, including the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the CHIPS and Science Act, Democrats have worked to invest in economic recovery, job creation, all while cutting the deficit in half last year. Democrats are committed to continuing our work to restore sound, long-term fiscal management so future generations can afford to invest in opportunities, secure the American Dream, and ensure workers have the tools to Make It In America.
This week, House Republicans unveiled their budget resolution for Fiscal Year 2016. Congress should be making the tough choices needed to grow our economy and expand middle-class opportunities for American families, while promoting fiscal responsibility.
The New Democrats’ American Prosperity Agenda is a blueprint for achieving the kind of commonsense, bipartisan economic policies the American people expect from their Congress.
The Chairman [Paul Ryan], who was the Chairman of the Budget Committee, offered a budget which cut food stamps $125 billion.
On Monday, the President released his budget for Fiscal Year 2016. His budget proposal builds on the strength of our economic recovery to make smart investments that will increase our nation’s competitiveness, while ensuring that working families share in the benefits of the recovery.
Republicans have controlled both the House and the Senate for four weeks, and their record shows that they have focused on extreme, partisan legislation rather than taking action to help the middle class and all those who aspire to it.
Today’s Budget and Economic Outlook report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office shows how much progress we have made over the past few years to bring down budget deficits – yet it also reminds us how much work is left to tackle our long-term, structural debt.
This evening, President Obama laid out a vision of an America that prioritizes a strong and growing middle class.
Having campaigned on promises to tackle our deficits and debt, the House Republican Majority has abandoned its responsibility to work toward long-term fiscal sustainability in a bipartisan way, instead ushering in an era of economic uncertainty characterized by government shutdowns, the risk of defaulting on our nation’s debts, and retroactive extensions.
Mr. Speaker, September should be a particularly important month for this House. It will be a month of contrast. It will be a month in which the American people will be able to see that the Republican message to the American people is ‘you're on your own,’ while Democrats say ‘we're on your side.’
With less than two weeks until the August district work period, House Republicans continue to ignore critical legislative priorities and are focusing their attention on a partisan and political lawsuit that will waste time and taxpayers’ dollars.