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Washington, D.C. – With a staggering national debt of $33 trillion, it’s clear the status quo of ever-increasing federal spending needs to change. In less than five years, we’ll spend more money on interest payments than on our entire national defense. Over the next 10 years, our annual deficits will double, interest payments will triple, and for every dollar we borrow, 50 cents will go to paying our debt. I'm working to be part of the solution, and I want to hear from you.
What is Congress doing to address spending concerns?
Through 12 annual appropriations bills, Congress controls discretionary spending. Discretionary spending only accounts for 27% of all federal spending. The other 73% of federal spending is considered mandatory, and includes programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and food stamps.This year, the United States will spend an average of $13,000 per household in discretionary spending. As you may know, the U.S. House of Representatives has now passed several appropriation bills while the U.S. Senate hasn't passed any, which set us up for a lapse in government funding on September 30, 2023 at 11:59 PM.
With that in mind, last Friday, I voted for H.R. 5525, the Spending Reduction and Border Security Act, which would cut discretionary, non-defense spending by 30% and keep the federal government funded through October 31, 2023 as we continue to pass appropriation bills. Importantly, this would have also created a small, bipartisan commission of Members of Congress dedicated to taking the time to figure out where to reduce spending to get our country back on track and ensure future generations receive the benefits they’ve paid into. As well as including provisions which would force the Biden administration to do their jobs to secure the border against mass illegal immigration, enforce our laws, and finish building the wall.
Unfortunately, the Spending Reduction and Border Security Act failed in a vote of 198-232, with 21 Republicans and all 211 Democrats voting against the bill.
On Saturday, we reconvened and continued to work on funding the government. We were presented with a continuing resolution (“CR”) which would have maintained unsustainable spending levels and done nothing to secure our border. I joined 90 of my colleagues in rejecting this bill; however, it was ultimately passed and signed into law, which will fund the government until mid-November. We must continue to bring appropriation bills to the House floor and vote to send them to the Senate before the CR expires.
Changing the culture of Washington spending necessitates bringing forward all 12 appropriations bills with reasonable reductions in spending because we CAN’T keep spending at these levels. The American people are suffering and tightening their budgets right now, the federal government should be doing the same. Nobody wants a government shutdown. What we want – and need – is to find compromise, resolve our differences, while also changing the culture of overspending in D.C. in order to restore fiscal responsibility and put our nation on a better path.
The House was scheduled to consider several important appropriations bills this week. While I wish we could have kept the focus on passing the remaining appropriations bills, we instead were presented with a motion to vacate the office of the Speaker of the House. I voted against this motion; however, it ultimately succeeded in a vote of 216-210. This type of motion has never been successfully used to remove a sitting Speaker. Eight Republicans joined all 208 Democrats in voting for the motion. Seven of these eight Republicans voted to kill the conservative Spending Reduction and Border Security Act.
My focus has always been on addressing the issues that impact our district: delivering solutions to secure the border, fighting inflation that’s crushing working families, and cutting the vast and unsustainable government spending.
Despite the uncertainty of this week, I am hopeful we will quickly elect a new Speaker and get busy doing the job we were sent here to do for the good of our nation and its people.
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