California Democratic Rep. Xavier Becerra says he voted against raising the debt ceiling because this “wasn’t the real vote” and it was not a serious attempt to confront the issue. Becerra also told Fox News’ Neal Cavuto Wednesday that it is unfortunate that “we wasted the people`s time and taxpayer money on a bill that was never destined to go anywhere.”
“I voted again the Republican bill that essentially tried to do something along those lines. It wasn`t the kind of debt ceiling vote that we have had in the past. I think most members of Congress want to be responsible,” Becerra said. “It wasn’t clean in the sense that it had language in there that accused the president of causing this — the Bush deficits that led to these large amounts of debt.
“But, otherwise, yes, it was a vote on whether or not to increase the debt limit, but, again, it was a message piece,” he said. “And it is unfortunate that House Republicans decided to use a very important vote on whether or not America should pay its bills.”
Cavuto asked if Becerra thought it was not a serious vote, why he bothered.
“To me, it was more important to get out there and say something. And I — what I said was, when Republicans decide to get serious, we should all then get serious as well,” Becerra said. “Neil, look, when the House Republican leaders go to Wall Street and say, don`t worry, this isn`t the real vote, it`s not serious.
“Well, let’s — let’s put it this way: At some point, everyone doesn’t have — you don’t have to play nice — you just have to be serious, do some tough, sensible negotiations and get to work,” he said. “Sooner or later, the markets will react to the fact that Congress is simply twiddling its thumbs on something very important.”
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