We Need Fiscal Responsibility

Floor Speech

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Mr. CLOUD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to advocate for fiscal responsibility as Congress seeks to craft a budget.

This past year, our Nation has spent more than $7.6 trillion. That is more than the Federal Government spent in the first 200 years since our founding. With the Federal Government's debt already clocking in at $28 trillion and rising as I speak, we must face the reality that our grandchildren are going to foot this bill.

On May 12, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that inflation had grown by 4.2 percent over the last year. That is the largest 12- month increase since September 2008. Should we continue to spend at the rate that we are spending, our national debt, debt servicing, and costs for household items will continue to skyrocket, making life unaffordable for millions more.

This is not right. It is immoral for us to continue to fulfill the wants and needs of our generation by stealing opportunity from the next. We must do the hard work of meeting our country's needs responsibly.

The Republican Study Committee has proposed such a budget, a conservative budget, one that provides a roadmap toward a better future for our country. This budget gets us back on track in just 5 years while eliminating the deficit and cutting taxes. This is a conservative budget, one that aims to strengthen our Nation and provide better governance.

I am pleased to report that the RSC budget includes four of my legislative proposals, including my bill to require the Congressional Budget Office to include the cost of debt servicing when preparing cost estimates for proposed legislation. Before legislation passes either the House or Senate, lawmakers should know how much it is going to cost, yet Congress routinely ignores the true cost and overstates the benefits of new spending.

The American people have to account for the cost of debt servicing in their family budgets, and providing Congress with accurate cost estimates that include the cost of debt servicing is commonsense reform that would hold Congress to the same standard, forcing lawmakers to reckon with the actual cost of raising our national debt.

Additionally, this budget is pro-life. It includes my bill, the Women's Public Health and Safety Act, which would help prevent taxpayer dollars from funding abortion providers. This legislation will empower States to end the bankrolling of abortion providers and free up funding for healthcare initiatives for those providers that actually put the well-being of women and babies first.

This budget is pro-Second Amendment. It includes my legislation to prohibit a natural disaster declaration from being used to impose gun or ammo controls.

Finally, this bill is fiscally responsible. It includes my legislation for a Federal sunset commission to monitor the effectiveness of government agencies and prevent wasteful inefficiencies and duplicative programming.

I want to thank the RSC Budget Task Force chairman, Congressman Hern, and the chairman of the RSC, Congressman Banks, for putting forth a bold budget.

We can get our Nation back on track. We just need to put in the time to do what we have to do here in Washington.

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