“Whether you drive off a cliff at 60 miles per hour or 80 miles per hour, the end result is the same: a horrific crash.” While the just-passed House bill the Limit, Save, Grow Act is being hailed by some as a victory, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) is not impressed. He insisted that raising the debt ceiling at all is irresponsible.
My response to House Leadership's paltry debt ceiling legislation titled the Limit, Save, Grow Act: pic.twitter.com/pf3UWiLETD
— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) April 26, 2023
The bill text describes it as a measure “To provide for a responsible increase to the debt ceiling, and for other purposes.” Biggs argued in an April 26 statement that raising the debt ceiling is irresponsible in and of itself as our “national debt is a top national security threat.”
Rather than correcting a major problem, the Limit, Save, Grow Act will still lead to a “horrific crash,” Biggs argued. “That’s what we’re presented with today,” his statement said. “The Limit, Save, Grow Act is touted to ‘save’ $4.8 trillion. In reality, it merely reduces the 2033 projected national debt from $52 trillion to around $47 trillion.”
Federal spending cannot continue at COVID-19 pandemic levels, as it did in Fiscal Year 2022, Biggs insisted. “The Limit, Save, Grow Act doesn’t eliminate our need to borrow money and barely bends down the growth of our national debt. Capping spending at FY2022 levels — levels that were inflated dramatically during COVID and would still exceed our annual revenues — is not aggressive enough,” his statement said.
”At the bare minimum, this legislation should have returned federal spending to FY 2019, pre-COVID levels, which would allow us to spend within our means,” Biggs continued. “It isn’t the panacea but it will bend the trajectory down and start correcting the problem.” The national debt is a very serious problem, Biggs emphasized. “Our national debt is a top national security threat.”
Biggs noted that his objection to raising the debt ceiling isn’t solely because of Democrat control of the White House. “I have never voted to raise the debt ceiling in my time in Congress — even while President Trump was in the Oval Office — and didn’t today for the same reasons,” Biggs said.
In the end, Washington cannot expect to keep spending irresponsibly forever and never face a major fiscal crisis. Even the federal government cannot spend money it doesn’t have forever. “We owe the American people and our future generations sound and responsible fiscal policy,” Biggs stated. “Increasing the national debt to ‘only’ $47 trillion over ten years — an increase of over $14 trillion from today — is misguided and perpetuates Washington’s spending problem.”
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