Dear Friend,

America has had enough.  Enough reckless, wasteful spending.  Enough piling up more and more debt.  You deserve to know the truth about America’s budget, and it’s my responsibility to make sure you have the real information.  No budget tricks, no more gimmicks, and no more empty promises. 

FACT:  As of July 28, our nation’s total debt stands at over $14.3 trillion.  (Source: U.S. Treasury)

FACT:  In 2010, the government received about $2.3 trillion in total tax revenue.  (Source: Internal Revenue Service)

FACT:  On Friday, July 29, the House voted to do something about it.  (Source: Roll Call Vote #677)

American families have had to tighten their belts and learn to do more with less.  So should Washington.  That’s why I voted tonight for the Budget Control Act.  This bill cuts spending now, raises the debt ceiling to a lower level than our spending cuts, requires a vote on the Balanced Budget Amendment, and lays the groundwork for significant budget cuts in the future.  This is Day One of changing the broken system of spending in Washington. 

Some claimed that voting against the Budget Control Act and defeating it would have somehow resulted in Congress being able to pass a more conservative bill.  With the Senate and the White House controlled by Democrats, that notion is simply out of touch with reality.  We already passed a more conservative bill last week – the Cut, Cap and Balance Act.  In a perfect world, that bill would have been signed into law.  But this is not a perfect world.  That bill was immediately killed in the Senate by Harry Reid and Senate Democrats.

Ronald Reagan raised the debt limit 17 times during his two terms in office.  Each time, the increase covered only a limited period of time, forcing Congress to reassess spending priorities immediately and try to correct the country’s fiscal path.  President Obama wants to raise the debt limit enough to get him through the 2012 election.  It’s not hard to figure out that he doesn’t want to deal with this issue in an election year.  His timetable is driven by pure politics.

I have listened to your views on this issue through thousands of phone calls, online polls, letters, and emails.  Going into this debate, conservatives said we would increase the debt ceiling only if we cut spending more than we increased the debt ceiling, we didn’t increase taxes, and the debt ceiling increase was short-term.  The Budget Control Act meets those requirements. 

The legislation I voted for cuts spending more than it increases the debt ceiling, does not increase taxes, and forces Congress to vote on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.  This bill will make sure that the President doesn’t receive a blank check to continue paying for his expensive programs and bailouts.

Spending cuts will continue to be at the top of our agenda in Congress.  Our credit cards are maxed out.  Tonight, we began cutting them up.

  

Sincerely,

Kay Granger

P.S.  This isn’t an easy solution, but it is a real solution.