Senate Democrats refused to solve the debt limit debate on Friday, rejecting the Cut, Cap and Balance Act of 2011 which would cut spending, restrain future outlays and require passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution. The Senate then adjourned for the weekend, without offering any way forward in the debt limit debate.
While taxpayers have been balancing their household budgets by restraining their own spending, every Senate Democrat present voted against requiring the federal government to do the same. Voters understand Senate Democrats rejected a solution for America’s debt problem without offering any plan of their own.
Senate Republicans unanimously supported the Cut, Cap and Balance Act, showing they are unwilling to allow continued distraction from the government’s overspending problem. Congressional Republicans have repeatedly refused to accept any debt limit deal that increases taxes, keeping the focus where it should be: the government’s overspending problem. Democrats’ rejection today of the only solution offered to fix that problem shows they would rather bankrupt the country than restrain federal spending.
“Senate Democrats, who haven’t proposed a budget in over two years, must think taxpayers aren’t paying attention,” said Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist. “They’re wrong—after their rejection of the only concrete plan to end the debt limit dealings, voters are wondering what Senate Democrats are doing every day in Washington…because it certainly isn’t their jobs. This vote proves that Democrats are not interested in governing; taxpayers tend to remember things like that.”