Schilling: House Has Taken Steps to Address Ratings Agencies’ Concerns; Calls on Senate to Act

 Following President Obama’s remarks regarding the downgrade by Standard and Poor’s of the United States’ credit rating, Congressman Bobby Schilling (R-IL-17) pointed out the House has passed a number of bills to address the agencies’ concerns, get our financial house in order, and put our economy back on track.

“The President was correct this afternoon when he said that we didn’t need a rating agency to tell us that deficit reduction is important,” Schilling said. “The House has repeatedly taken action to tackle the deficits over the long term – we passed the Path to Prosperity, a fiscally responsible budget that would cut spending by $6.2 trillion over a decade, keep taxes low to promote job growth, and protect Medicare for our seniors.  We passed the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act that would have cut spending, promote spending caps to 19.9% of GDP by 2021, and would make the raising of the debt ceiling contingent on a Balanced Budget Amendment. When that failed to advance in the Senate, we passed the Budget Control Act to reduce federal spending  by approximately $917 billion between 2012 and 2021.

“The fact of the matter is that we cannot spend our way out of this mess. Neither party is without fault for our current economic situation, but we must work together if we are to get our fiscal house in order, promote growth, and save the American dream. I remain hopeful that the President will join us, and show us a clear proposal for how the government can rein in spending, increase certainty in the markets, and re-focus on job creation.”