Dist. 17 GOP "Young Gun" voted against raising debt

Washington, D.C. – Today, the House rejected H.R. 1954, a bill to implement the President's request to increase the statutory limit on the public debt by $2.4 trillion, with a bipartisan vote of 318 to 97. Every Republican voted against the bill. U.S. Congressman Bill Flores (R-Texas) released the following statement today regarding his decision to vote down an unconditional increase in the debt limit:

“The Obama Administration and more than half of House Democrats have called on Congress to consider an unconditional increase in the debt limit bill that will raise the limit without any spending cuts or reforms. The President’s request for a blank check debt limit increase is bad for our economy and bad for American job creation. With only 11 percent of Americans agreeing to increase the debt limit without spending cuts and reforms, it is clear that out-of-touch Washington Democrats have still not gotten the message that voters sent last November. We must stop spending money we don’t have and sending the bill to our children and grandchildren. Our Nation is in a debt crisis because Washington spends too much, not because it taxes too little. At more than $14 trillion, our debt is as large as the entire U.S. economy and is putting the American Dream at risk for future generations. If President Obama and Washington Democrats want us to pay their bills, any consideration to raise the debt limit must be accompanied by substantial spending cuts and reforms to ensure that we put our country back on a sound fiscal path.

“In 2006, then-U.S. Senator Obama voted against a clean increase of $781 billion. The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. The Democrats’ unwillingness to cut spending and get our debt and deficits under control has caused the financial markets stress and uncertainty. Last month, the credit-rating agency Standard and Poor’s (S&P) downgraded the United States’ outlook from stable to negative, because Washington appeared to have no plan to reign in our debt and deficits. According to S&P, this was a result of ‘very large budget deficits and rising government indebtedness’ and the lack of a ‘path to addressing these’ problems.

“Today, we made it clear that Republicans will not accept an increase in our Nation’s debt limit without substantial spending cuts and real budgetary reforms. This vote demonstrates that Republicans are listening to the American people and willing to do what it takes to put us on a path to fiscal responsibility.”