Speeches & Testimony

Floor Remarks on H.R. 5211, the Sustainable Budget Act

November 21, 2019

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Can anyone seriously dispute that our federal fiscal house is out of order?

Our national debt stands at $23 trillion, doubling in just the last decade alone. No end is in sight as we just registered a trillion-dollar annual deficit for Fiscal Year 2019 and Fiscal Year 2020 and beyond look the same or worse. Interest payments alone will exceed defense spending by 2025.

We need look no further than a mirror for the root cause.  It is our collective inability to face the music of fiscal responsibility and sustainability.  

We clearly need help. HR 5211, my bill co-introduced today with my colleague from Arkansas, the Ranking Member of our Budget Committee, Mr. Womack, would follow the models of Simpson-Bowles and other such independent bipartisan commissions, charged with focusing on our debt and recommending a sustainable path for an up-or-down vote by Congress.

In that our bill is similar to other measures I’ve also cointroduced: HR 4907, the TRUST Act with Rep. Gallagher and McAdams and HR 5178, the RAFT Act with Rep. Burchett. Together, they offer a far better way forward to tackling our debt crisis and I urge their prompt consideration and passage.

I yield back.