Message from Congressman Mike Ross

In 1917, Congress passed the Second Liberty Bond Act placing a limit or “ceiling” on how much debt the U.S. can accumulate. Since that time, the debt ceiling has been raised 67 times, including 17 times under President Reagan and so far three times under President Obama. Raising the debt ceiling isn’t new, but the government’s out-of-control spending and national debt have reached unsustainable levels.

Currently, the debt limit is $14.294 trillion, but the national debt already hit that mark on the morning of May 16, 2011. In order to keep the country’s finances stable, the Treasury Department has taken extraordinary measures – like suspending investments in federal retirement funds – to bring down the debt long enough for Congress to act. Treasury has said it can continue to meet the government’s obligations until August 2, 2011, when the United States would begin defaulting on its financial obligations here at home and around the world.

The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service reports that if the United States is no longer able to pay its bills, then “it would arguably have negative repercussions on both domestic and international financial markets and economies.” At a minimum, a default could hurt U.S. bonds, the dollar and 401k retirement plans because, according to former Congressional Budget Director Rudolph Penner, “Our bond market and stock market would crash.”

So, Congress is now forced to make a decision on the debt ceiling. Some have suggested to simply cut spending by enough to keep us under the limit. However, in order to do so, the Government Accountability Office estimates we would need to cut spending by 35% or about $1.2 trillion. That’s about what the country spends annually on defense and other discretionary spending – nearly everything except for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Basically, it would force Congress to defund every single government program, initiative and agency, including the CIA and the Defense Department.

However, this does not mean we should ignore the reality of our fiscal situation and not cut spending at all. We absolutely must cut spending and I will not support any increase in the debt ceiling unless it includes meaningful spending cuts that will actually reduce our deficits without punishing America’s working families and seniors. That’s why on May 31st, I voted against a measure to raise the debt ceiling from $14.294 trillion to $16.7 trillion because it did not include any cuts to federal spending.

It’s important to know that the debt ceiling isn’t about new spending; it’s about meeting the debts and obligations we’ve already committed. So, it is a very important issue. Congress needs to stop the partisan bickering and start working together to draft a commonsense compromise that preserves America’s standing in the global economy, cuts spending and reduces our deficit.

We should instead focus on how to get our nation’s fiscal house back in order. That’s why I have worked hard as co-chair of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition to pass components of our Blueprint for Fiscal Reform, cosponsoring 15 deficit or debt reducing bills, many of which have become law.

I have also already voted to freeze salaries for Members of Congress for the last two years, cut Congress’s own budget by 5 percent and freeze all non-defense, discretionary spending at 2008 levels and, most recently, voted to cut $38 billion from the 2011 budget. Finally, I am also working hard to build support for the Benchmarks for Fiscal Reform, which aims to cut the deficit by $4 trillion over the next decade.

Rest assured that reducing our deficit is and will continue to be my focus in Congress as a fiscal conservative and as your voice in Congress.