Americans for Tax Reform applauds House Republicans for providing another tangible plan to cut spending and avoid default. Consistent with Leadership’s promise, this plan would implement the House-passed Cut, Cap and Balance Act in a way that would be successful in both chambers. This plan would cut trillions of dollars from the federal budget without raising taxes.

The only reason that tax increases are off the table at this critical juncture in the debt limit debate is because Congressional Republicans have held firm on their pledge to their constituents not to raise taxes. This leaves spending cuts as the only viable debt limit solution. Unlike the fraudulent deals of 1982 and 1990, taxpayers will not be put on the hook by politicians in Washington, D.C.

• Speaker Boehner and the House Republicans have established a new and permanent metric for extending borrowing authority: Namely, that real spending cuts exceed the amount by which the debt ceiling is raised. This turns conventional wisdom on its head, demanding lawmakers make a down payment on spending restraint.
• The plan establishes statutory spending caps that will reduce anticipated discretionary spending by over $1 trillion dollars. This begins to rollback the bloated spending baselines generated by the Bush and Obama Administrations. The caps are enforced by annual sequestrations, ensuring Congress cannot spend above the limits.
• This debt limit increase buys time until the spring, at which time a Select Committee will recommend further rescissions in exchange for another debt limit increase. The President will only be allowed further borrowing authority if the Select Committee recommendations pass both the House and Senate and he signs the bill into law.  Even then, the amount by which the debt limit is increased must be less than the amount of cuts adopted. Americans for Tax Reform expects the Committee report to keep tax increases off the table—a continuation of the commitment made by Congressional Republicans in this debate.
• The proposal will require each chamber of Congress to vote on a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution by the end of the year. Americans for Tax Reform will oppose any Balanced Budget Amendment that does not include at least a two-thirds super-majority requirement to raise taxes.

Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist said: “Here’s the big picture: No tax increase. Real spending cuts. Cuts first and debt ceiling second. This plan is good for taxpayers, children and other living things.”

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