Washington, D.C. — Today U.S. Representative Cynthia Lummis voted against the two year budget deal and debt limit suspension brokered by Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and President Obama. The bill passed the House.
“In the dead of night behind closed doors, Speaker Boehner made another disastrous deal with Nancy Pelosi and President Obama that further delays hopes of putting America’s financial house in order,” said Rep. Lummis. “We have blown past $18 trillion in debt and this deal sets us to approach the $20 trillion mark, avoiding any meaningful spending reforms and preventing any improvements to the bill by blocking amendments. This has become standard operating procedure for our bloated government run amok: no transparency, no reforms, just more spending agreed to in a manufactured crisis. Our debt continues to explode and our children and grandchildren will pay the price.”
The two year budget deal:
- Suspends the debt ceiling through March 2017.
- Increases spending by $80 billion over two years, breaking the discretionary spending caps set by the Budget Control Act and agreed to by Speaker Boehner and President Obama.
- Sells oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve at a time of record low oil prices to fund more spending.
- Funds the Social Security Disability Insurance Trust Fund by robbing funding from the Social Security Old Age and Survivor Insurance Trust Fund, hastening its insolvency.
- Was announced near midnight two days before consideration, without consultation or input from most members of Congress.