Washington, DC – Congressman Dan Lungren (R-Gold River) on Tuesday voted against raising the national debt limit by $2.4 trillion dollars, saying he was against the increase without reforms to spending.

“The country’s debt burden is currently $14.2 trillion dollars and 42 cents of every dollar spent by the government is borrowed money,” Lungren said by e-mail after the vote. House Resolution 1954 was meant to “implement the President’s request to increase the statutory limit on the public debt.” The bill failed on a 318-97 vote, with 236 Republicans and 82 Democrats voting no, and another 97 Democrats voting yes.

Lungren said: “It is essential for those of us in the Congress to approach the vote on the debt ceiling with a full awareness that we have a solemn obligation not only to meet our existing debt obligations but also to take serious action to avoid a future debt crisis which could plunge our nation into another serious economic crisis.”

The Congressional Budget Office has projected “that if we continue on the current spending trajectory, our public debt will grow to 87 percent of the U.S. economy within 10 years,” Lungren said, and that is “simply not sustainable and could lead to what Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard, and Carmen Reinhart of the University of Maryland have characterized as a tipping point for economic decline when a nation’s debt to (Gross Domestic Product) ratio reaches 90 percent.”

Lungren pointed out the April 18 credit-rating change by Standard and Poor’s (S&P), which changed the United States outlook from stable to negative. According to S&P, this was a result of “very large budget deficits and rising government indebtedness” and the lack of a “path to addressing these” problems. The rating was changed because the S&P believes “there is at least a 1-in-3 likelihood that we could lower our long-term rating on the U.S. within two years.”

Lungren said “any agreement to raise the debt limit should include meaningful measures to reduce spending. The writing is on the wall. The shift by Standard & Poor’s outlook on U.S. Treasuries from ‘stable’ to ‘negative’ should be a wake-up call.”

S&P said the “outlook reflects our view of the increased risk that the political negotiations over when and how to address both the medium- and long-term fiscal challenges will persist until at least after national elections in 2012.”

 Lungren said “now is the time for meaningful spending reforms to reduce our debt…. The debate over the debt ceiling should be used to achieve real spending cuts,” and “the time to act is now.”

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.