The Lead with Jake Tapper: Rep. Drew Ferguson, (R-GA), Is Interviewed About Debt Ceiling

Interview

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No, I don't. Look, we have done our work in the House. We're the only body here in Washington that actually voted responsibly to raise the debt limit, and we wish that our Senate colleagues would do the same. And we wish that President Biden would have engaged in this debate earlier.

Look, we have got some very modest spending reforms out there, things that we know that Americans are for, and we just -- we need the other parties to come to the table.

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No, it is not because we are going to make progress, and we have got a spending problem in Washington, D.C. As a function of GDP, we have the highest tax receipts coming in that we've ever had. The problem is, we have the highest spending that we've ever had. And it's unsustainable. And look, doing things like simply saying we're going to spend less money this year or next year than we did last year is not unreasonable.

Thinking about getting our able-bodied adults that are ages 19 to 49 to work and participate in our economy, we need their participation in the economy in order to receive some federal benefits, that's not unreasonable. The pandemic is over. Taking quality back unspent COVID funds makes sense. And America needs to be energy independent, you know, (INAUDIBLE), and some good permitting reforms both for fossil fuels and the green energy sector, all reasonable asks.

We think if those things go into place, it makes our economy grow, it makes it stronger, we're able to save some money, and we have already voted to raise the debt limit in this responsible manner.

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I mean, it's, you know, we talk about giving tax cuts to the wealthiest. Just look at the Inflation Reduction Act and we're now almost $1.2 trillion of green energy tax credits that are going to the richest companies and the richest individuals to offset their taxes. So there's a little hypocrisy hearing this.

Botton line, look at the revenues coming in, they're at the highest level. Look at the spending, it's at the highest level.

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We have got to focus on driving spending down. And by the way, what we're asking for to spend at '22 levels, that's exactly where we are right now. So if you think the world is going to come to an end if we spend at '22 levels, fiscal year '22 levels, what we're doing is spending exactly where we are right now.

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Well, we've done our job in the House. We asked the Senate to come forward and do it. We're willing to meet any time to solve this problem.

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Thank you.

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