Hensarling Discusses Federal Debt & Spending Cuts: Congressman Discusses Recent Spending Cuts and Need for Fiscal Sanity

Press Release

U.S. Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), a leading fiscal conservative and Chairman of the House Republican Conference, was in Wood County today to talk with constituents about the federal debt crisis and recent action he has taken to further cut job destroying spending and Washington waste.

"There is a true, spending-driven debt crisis in America," said Hensarling. "The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen has said the biggest threat we have to our national security is our debt. Economist Robert Samuelsson has said this spending could trigger an economic and political death spiral. Democrat, Erskine Bowles, who headed up the presidents fiscal responsibility commission said the debt is like a cancer; it's truly going to destroy the country from within."

"And yet what do we have?" asked Hensarling. "We have the president presenting a new budget that will, again, double the national debt in five years, triple it in ten, and add thirteen trillion dollars worth of red ink to the nation's debt. This is after expanding garden variety government eighty-four percent in two years. East Texans know we must stop spending money we don't have."

Hensarling explained how House Republicans have now passed over $700 billion in cuts this Congress. "In February, the House voted to repeal Obamacare which would cut new spending by $2.6 trillion over ten years and reduce the deficit by $700 billion. In addition, by repealing Obamacare's job-destroying 1099 provision which would end burdensome reporting requirements on small business owners while saving taxpayers $24.8 billion in wasteful spending found in Obamacare." Hensarling continued, "Just last week, the House also voted to de-fund National Public Radio, reducing job-destroying spending and getting government out of the radio business. These cuts and others over the last three months bring the total savings this of Congress to more than $700 billion."

Hensarling went on to discuss how the Republican-led House of Representatives is listening to the American people and cutting spending. "Last month, we sent the Senate H.R. 1 -- a bill that cuts $61 billion from current spending and keeps the government running through the end of the year. Senate Democrats rejected our plan, offering instead a plan that calls for less than $6 billion in cuts over the next six months. These tepid cuts are not acceptable to me or the American people. That is why the House passed a short-term resolution that cuts $2 billion a week in spending for the next three weeks- keeping our pledge to cut spending while keeping the government open. It's past time for the White House and the Senate to join our efforts to give the American people the spending cuts and certainty required to create new jobs, and the leadership they deserve."

Hensarling cited that decades of economic studies have shown that countries who implement spending cuts to reduce their debt actually boost job creation and economic growth in the short-term. "Americans know full well that you can't help the job seeker by punishing the job creator. And we can't tax, spend, borrow and bailout our way to economic growth and job creation. The Democrats tried, and as a result, federal spending rose to record highs and unemployment climbed to 9 percent or higher for more than 20 months--the worst jobless streak since the Great Depression."

"The American people fear--rightfully so--that historic debt will lead to historic taxes which will result in even fewer jobs for Americans. To create a better environment for job growth and save our children from national bankruptcy, the federal government must stop spending money that it simply does not have."

Hensarling continued, "I didn't come to Congress to just talk about reducing our debt; I came to do something about it. As the debt has grown, my determination to save future generations from bankruptcy is even stronger. At a time when we are borrowing 42 cents on every dollar, mostly from the Chinese, we need to take significant steps to ending Washington's culture of spending so that economic confidence can be restored and Americans can go back to work," concluded Hensarling.

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