Dear Friends,

This evening I voted NO on the Biden Debt Deal. Here's why:

• Short-term Spending Freeze: only a two-year freeze on spending with apparent "cuts" of $128 billion. However, other areas of spending would expand the federal bureaucracy, negating these alleged cuts. This isn't fiscal responsibility, it's fiscal sleight-of-hand.
• Weak Work Requirements: minor work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), a.k.a. food stamps yet these created new exemptions and phase-outs, and disappointingly, imposed no work requirements for Medicaid. It also expands the number of individuals on SNAP increasing the cost of the program in the long term.
• Preservation of Massive Giveaways: kept every cent of the Democrats' green energy handouts, upheld Biden's student loan bailout, and gave a pet pipeline project to Sen. Joe Manchin. 
• Expansion of the IRS: retained 98% of the planned $80 billion IRS expansion, risking the growth of a weaponized bureaucracy.
• Inadequate Reclaim of COVID Funds: reclaimed only $28 billion of unspent, unobligated COVID funds, leaving $400 billion of misused funding intact.
• No Border Security Measures: neglected border security entirely, but its construction also made it more difficult to address the border issue in the future.
• Debt Limit Concerns: did nothing to cap the debt limit, instead deferring it to a future lame duck session in 2025. Additionally, it was backstopped by a weak Continuing Resolution that would, at best, result in a cut of $15 billion.

A vote in favor of this debt ceiling increase would have been a vote for bigger government, higher taxes, and lower accountability. I am disappointed in the cheerleading that I witnessed from my Republican colleagues in support of this bad bill, and I could not in good conscious come home and defend a yes vote. 

Sincerely,

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