The Senate voted 51-46 to table ‘Cut, Cap, and Balance’. Click here to see the results of the vote.
Americans for Limited Government Bill Wilson said the following:
“The defeat today in the Senate of the ‘Cut, Cap, and Balance’ provision to deal with the debt ceiling crisis is a tragedy. We have lost, through this vote, not just the ability of any short term remedy, but the opportunity to put America on a trajectory for fiscal sustainability and a return to sound economic planning and thinking. Today is going to be marked, frankly, as a tragic day in American history. This is the day when the Senate went on record wanting to see America expand its debt, which will inevitably lead to the collapse of the dollar and the collapse of the U.S. economy.
“Credit rating agencies Moody’s and S&P have warned if a fiscal consolidation plan of at least $4 trillion is not put in place now, our Triple-A credit rating will be revoked. That will crash markets all over the world, mean higher interest payments, which already total in the hundreds of billions every year, and make the size of budget cuts needed even larger in the future. Washington simply is not taking this threat seriously. ‘Cut, Cap, and Balance’ is the only proposal on the table that can deal with this threat in a timely and effective manner, saving $5.8 trillion in the next ten years and balancing the budget.
“Senators who profess to support a Balanced Budget Amendment and who voted no on ‘Cut, Cap, and Balance’ have, through their deceit, tabled the one proposal that can prevent a downgrade. They are guaranteeing that their own states, which too will be affected by a Treasury downgrade, will have to make even higher interest payments on municipal debt. By fighting budget cuts in Washington, senators are guaranteeing bigger budget cuts at home down the road.
“When the nation is downgraded, and markets crash, the American people now have someone to blame: Those senators that refused to take the opportunity presented by ‘Cut, Cap, and Balance’ to restore order to the nation’s fiscal house.”
