Statement on Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Vote

"The United States House of Representatives has taken an important step towards restoring fiscal responsibility to Washington and putting our nation back on the path to prosperity. The fiscal year 2012 budget resolution (H. Con. Res. 34) will reduce deficit spending by $5.8 trillion over the next decade and protect our children and grandchildren from the unsustainable levels of debt that currently threaten their future.
 
The House-passed budget stops the binge that has pushed government spending to historic levels. It freezes domestic discretionary spending at below 2008 levels for the next five years; embraces pro-growth tax reform, instead of job-destroying tax increases; makes no changes to the Medicare program for those 55 and older, while instructing House committees to craft Medicare reforms for those under 55 that are similar to the health care plans offered to Members of Congress and other federal employees; ends corporate welfare, including the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the permanent bail-out authority for Wall Street enacted last year; and builds on welfare reform by block-granting Medicaid to the states, giving them more flexibility to design the Medicaid program for their own populations.

Our national debt currently exceeds $14 trillion and we are borrowing more than 40 cents of every dollar we spend. At this rate, the national debt will exceed the size of our entire economy within the next decade. This inevitably would mean diminished economic growth and diminished opportunity for all.  H. Con. Res. 34 is an attempt to honestly address the fiscal challenges that face us and chart a more positive future for generations of Americans to come."