The nation is in a difficult financial situation and Congress needs to be responsible, Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told Newsmax on Wednesday in explaining why he voted against Speaker Kevin McCarthy's debt ceiling plan last week.
Burchett was one of only four representatives from the GOP to vote against the plan, stressing to Newsmax's "Wake Up America" that "we are in a state in this country where we need to be responsible. We are not being responsible."
He emphasized that the plan "cuts the rate of growth of the deficit, but does not cut the deficit."
Burchett said that McCarthy's plan adds $1.5 trillion per year to the debt, and "we can't just keep going this way."
He acknowledged that "Speaker McCarthy was masterful in getting all the things that he did get in the bill, but it didn't go far enough ... we are in serious trouble, and I don't think most people realize it."
In return for raising the debt ceiling, McCarthy's plan would set discretionary spending levels for the coming year at fiscal 2022 levels and limit spending growth to no more than 1% a year, according to The Wall Street Journal.
In addition, the plan would recoup unspent coronavirus relief money, include new work requirements for government benefits, and halt the administration's plan to forgive some student loans.
Burchett told Newsmax that "the things that Republicans asked for are reasonable, but this White House doesn't want to negotiate."
He said that the American public needs to demand more from our leadership, and this is where I stand," explaining that if "we just went back to pre-COVID spending levels in 2019, we would have a surplus."
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Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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