Wolf Statement on Failure of Deficit Reduction Supercommittee

Statement

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) issued the following statement following the failure of the deficit reduction supercommittee to produce a plan to address the nation's deficit:

I am disappointed that the supercommittee failed to develop a plan to deal with the deficit. I have been sounding the alarm about this issue for more than five years and, in the words of Erskine Bowles, we are now facing the "most predictable economic crisis in history." Our national debt is over $15 trillion. We have annual deficits of more than $1 trillion. We have unfunded obligations and liabilities of $62 trillion. We all know what needs to be done and that is why I have supported every serious effort to resolve this crisis: from the Bowles-Simpson recommendations; to the House-passed Ryan Budget; to the "Gang of Six" effort; to the "Cut, Cap and Balance" bill; to the Budget Control Act, which created the supercommittee. I also was among the bipartisan group of 103 members of Congress who urged the supercommittee to "go big" and identify $4 trillion in savings. Last week, I voted for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution that would have established critical institutional reforms to ensure that the federal government lives within its means.

While none of these solutions were perfect, they all took the necessary steps to rebuild and protect our economy. In order to deal with this problem, everything must be on the table for consideration -- all entitlement spending, all domestic discretionary spending, including defense spending, and tax reform, particularly changes to make the tax code more simple and fair and to end the practice of tax earmarks that costs hundreds of billions of dollars. Rest assured, I will continue to do whatever I can to solve this issue.

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