WASHINGTON – Congressman Tim Griffin (AR-02) issued the following statement after House passage of H.J.Res. 99:
“Debt ceiling increases often have been and always should be accompanied by long-term spending reforms. Anything less is ‘a sign of leadership failure,’ as then-Senator Obama said in 2006 when our national debt was $8.8 trillion less. His demand this year that Congress abandon this tradition is hypocritical and shows he’s in denial when it comes to Washington’s unsustainable spending addiction. I implore the President to sit down and talk with leaders in both parties so that we can work out a bipartisan solution to end the Washington practice he once derided as ‘shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren.’”
A September 19, 2013, report from the Congressional Research Service noted that “Debate surrounding increases to the debt limit has often included discussions of fiscal policy.” The report found at least 20 instances since 1917 in which agreements to increase the debt limit included spending reforms.
In March 2006, then-Senator Obama voted against raising the debt limit, stating in part: “Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here.’ Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.”
In July 2008, then-Senator Obama said that adding $4 trillion to the national debt over eight years was “irresponsible” and “unpatriotic.”
According to the U.S. Treasury, America’s national debt currently totals more than $17.07 trillion, up from $10.62 trillion on January 20, 2009, when President Obama was sworn in – an increase of nearly $6.5 trillion in less than five years.
Rep. Griffin released a YouTube video earlier this year entitled “Intervention,” which called for Washington to quit kicking the can down the road on spending, and kick the habit instead.
H.J.Res. 99 disapproves of the President’s exercise of authority to suspend the debt limit through February 7, 2014. A provision allowing President Obama to suspend the debt limit through February 7, 2014, was included as part of the FY2014 Continuing Appropriations Act, the agreement that ended the government shutdown. The Bipartisan Policy Center estimates that this suspension would allow $600 billion in new borrowing. Rep. Griffin spoke on the House floor Tuesday night in support of H.J.Res. 99. If it does not pass the House and the Senate, the debt limit suspension would remain unchanged.
