House Republicans did nothing to control the national debt and lower the deficit. In fact, they raised both.
Now that Democrats are in control, it's their turn. And even on this first day of the new Congress, things don't look good.
As the Heritage Foundation reported today, House Dems are planning to enact four rules that will likely raise both spending and taxes.
Rather than promoting fiscal restraint, the House is considering rules changes that would move in the opposite direction. The results could mean more deficit spending and higher taxes for many Americans.
Here are four proposed rules changes the House should reconsider.
1. Adoption of a “Gephardt rule,” which would allow the House to avoid a direct vote on the debt limit.
Under this rule, a vote on a House budget resolution would double as a vote to raise the debt limit in the House. In early 2019, we are likely to hit a debt of $22 trillion. Americans deserve a true stand-alone vote on the debt limit in both chambers of Congress.
The debt limit is an important moment for forcing action to confront our nation’s highly unsustainable and worsening fiscal path, and an opportunity to correct course with spending and entitlement reforms. The Gephardt rule would reverse course by allowing the House to avoid taking an important vote on the debt limit, thus reducing congressional accountability.
The version considered by the new House in its rules package would send a debt limit suspension through the end of the fiscal year (Sept. 30) to the Senate upon passage of a concurrent resolution on the budget in the House.
Congress should enact fiscal controls to reform and control spending, and should do so before increasing the debt limit again.
Click here to read the remaining three rules.
If Congress won't control spending while also lowering taxes, the American people will force their hand.
Article V of the Constitution allows the people, acting through the state legislatures, to call a Convention of States for the purpose of proposing amendments to the Constitution.
These amendments can both mandate and balanced budget and cap taxation. This will force Congress to not only get the deficit and debt under control, but also find other ways to cut the budget without simply raising taxes.
We can't keep hoping the next crop of Congresspeople will do the right thing. Only with this complete package of constitutional amendments can we get our nation's finances back on track.
Sign the Convention of States Petition below to show your support and tell your state reps that you support the Article V option!
