More BULL $hit Dear Mr. Turner, Thank you for contacting me regarding our countrys debt and deficit challenges. I appreciate hearing from you about these important issues. The greatest challenge that we now face as a nation is the need to address our countrys debt and deficit. Our unsustainable deficits are depriving the economy of much needed certainty and predictability about future levels of spending and taxation, which is needed for the kind of private investment that will create jobs. It is impossible to address other national challenges such as energy independence, infrastructure, or education in a meaningful way until we fix our debt and deficit. To successfully address our debt and deficit challenges, we need to have a balanced plan that cuts our projected debt by at least $4 trillion over the next ten years. We must reduce our deficit, but we cannot continue to cut only our domestic discretionary spending. Domestic discretionary spending in 2012 accounted for 17 percent of total federal spending, but is projected to fall to less than 14 percent of total federal spending by 2017. Historically, the only time that our country has had a balanced budget is when both spending and revenue is around 20 percent of GDP. We need to recognize that while federal spending as a percentage of our gross domestic product (GDP) is above its 40-year average, the amount of revenue that the federal government takes in is well below the 40-year average. Any serious plan to address our debt and deficit must find reasonable ways to address both sides of our balance sheet. The United States cannot remain competitive in a global economy while underinvesting in national priorities such as research and development, infrastructure, and education. This is why we need a comprehensive approach to deficit reduction that reduces spending, reforms our entitlement programs, and examines reasonable ways to increase revenue. After an embarrassing, and costly, government shutdown for more than two weeks, the Senate has worked to do our job and pass a bipartisan compromise that reopens our government, avoids a catastrophic default, and puts our federal workforce back on the job serving the American people. On October 16, 2013, the Senate passed the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014 by a vote of 81-18. The House passed the bill 285-144 and the President signed the bill into law. I voted for this bill, which funds the government until January 15, 2014 and extends the debt limit until February 7, 2014. It also includes language that requires the House and the Senate to work together to come up with a long-term spending plan to get our balance sheet in order by mid-December. I am hopeful that we can put this chapter behind us. We cannot continue to put the full faith and credit of the United States of America at risk. We cannot continue to govern by crisis. We cannot shut down the government, hurt our federal workforce, hurt taxpayers, and hurt private businesses simply because some in the Congress didnt get what they wanted in a political dispute. I hope and pray that we will work together in a bipartisan way to address the serious fiscal issues facing our country and put our country on the right path to reducing our debt, growing our economy, and creating jobs. Again, thank you for contacting me. For further information or to sign up for my newsletter please visit my website at warner.senate.gov. Sincerely, MARK R. WARNER United States Senator
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 15:02:25 +0000
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