Press Releases

Larsen: Cut, Cap and Balance Act is Anything but a Balanced Approach to Balancing the Budget

Today, U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen released the following statement about his intention to vote against the Cut, Cap and Balance Act.

 “My primary goal as a Member of Congress is to implement a forward thinking plan for long term economic growth that works for us through investments in the skills and knowledge of people, support for innovation, and infrastructure all in order to maintain US economic leadership in the world.

“The Cut, Cap and Balance Act undermines our economic leadership.

“We need a balanced approach to balancing the budget that protects our economic progress and bolsters private sector job growth while working to shrink the deficit and control the debt.

“I will vote against the Cut, Cap and Balance Act because it is anything but a balanced approach to balancing the budget.

“H.R. 2560 is yet another example of a Republican budget that is out of touch with the needs of the country. According to the Doug Elmendorf, Director of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, $100 million in cuts next year would affect economic growth projections for the next few years. And according to the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities, the cuts included in this bill would reduce our economic growth and cause the loss of roughly 700,000 jobs. Simply put, this budget plan in conjunction with our current 9.2% unemployment rate is a recipe for economic disaster.

 “The budget standards in this bill are so far to the right that even President Reagan would fail to meet them. According to the Center for American Progress, President Reagan never capped spending at less than 20 percent of GDP, as this bill would mandate, which would have made all of President Reagan’s budgets unconstitutional.

 “In character with most Republican budget proposals, this bill will hurt our seniors by ending Medicare as we know it. Just like the Ryan Plan, the Cut, Cap and Balance Act will convert Medicare to a voucher program and the costs of healthcare will skyrocket for our seniors.

“The Majority Party is only hurting our economy and middle class families as they delay Congress from taking critical action on raising the debt limit by wasting time on a plan that ends Medicare, jeopardizes economic growth and raises the unemployment rate.

“If the White House and congressional negotiators can't get a long-term deficit reduction package done before America defaults on its debt, then Congress should take a clean debt limit vote, send it to the President, and get back to work on the budget.

“Failure to avoid a government default will do severe harm to America's economy and the middle class. Default means higher interest rates on credit cards, student loans, home loans and business loans.

“The impact of defaulting on bills that America is committed to paying is too great. Congress must avoid default, then continue the work on deficit reduction. 

Read the full text of Rep. Rick Larsen’s recent Op-Ed about the debt ceiling negotiations in the Everett Herald here.