Bayh Presses New Debt-Fighting Plan To Get America's Fiscal House In Order

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Says including debt limit increase into year-end omnibus would force a choice of "being irresponsible in the short-run or irresponsible in the long-run"
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Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) today joined top Senate budget leaders in introducing the Bipartisan Task Force for Responsible Fiscal Action Act of 2009 at a news conference on Capitol Hill, calling it Congress' best chance to rein in the country's record $12 trillion national debt.

"Our unsustainable debt is neither a Democratic nor a Republican problem. It is rooted in the DNA of both political parties," Bayh said. "Some in Congress like to spend more than we can afford, and some like to cut taxes more than we can afford. The easy path is simply to borrow until our creditors refuse to go along. The path of least resistance that we have trod for so long is the path to national weakness. If you have the same people and the same process, you are going to get the same results."

Standing with Senate Budget Committee leaders Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Judd Gregg (R-NH), Bayh pressed Senate leadership to adopt a bipartisan debt-fighting commission with real teeth as part of an upcoming vote to raise the debt ceiling.

Bayh opposes including the ninth increase of the federal debt limit this decade into year-end omnibus legislation that includes military and jobs funding, saying the procedural move would force lawmakers to choose between two fiscally irresponsible options.

"It looks like the powers-that-be want to confront those of us who want to do the right thing with an alternative of either doing something irresponsible in the short-run or something irresponsible in the long run," Bayh said. "We have to do better than that. For those who simply think they can put a gun to our head or put some sweeteners in there for continuing down this fiscally irresponsible path, I think they are going to be in for a surprise if they expect us to roll over without credible reasons to believe we will do more to get the budget balanced."

The debt-fighting plan supported by Bayh would force Washington policymakers to stop deferring tough fiscal decisions. It would put all options on the table, including spending cuts and revenue raisers. Congress would then be compelled by law to debate the recommendations on a fast track basis and take an up-or-down vote on the entire plan.

In 2009, Bayh was one of three Democrats to vote against the $3.5 trillion federal budget and one of only two Democrats to vote against the FY 2009 omnibus bill because it raised spending at levels significantly above inflation.

As Indiana governor from 1989 to 1997, Bayh passed the largest tax cut in state history, balanced the budget every year, and left the state with the largest surplus in Indiana's history. In 1993, he vetoed a budget passed by a Democratically controlled legislature because it was not fiscally sustainable.

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