Congressman Tom Cole (OK-04), Vice Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, released the following statement after voting in favor of H.R. 3746, the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
“President Biden and Democrats’ needless delays to negotiate a responsible deal to raise the debt limit certainly put our country in a dangerous position,” said Cole. “Indeed, failing to responsibly raise the debt ceiling at all would be disastrous and would devastate the American economy. The Fiscal Responsibility Act is a product of compromise and reflects the realities of divided government, all the while accomplishing real reductions in spending. By passing this bill, House Republicans are keeping the promise to the American people of cutting spending year over year while giving an appropriate increase to defense spending and without cutting money for veterans.
“In addition, this legislation would claw back $28 billion in unspent COVID-19 pandemic relief money that is no longer needed, which is the largest rescission in history. Finally, it includes major reforms to work requirements for SNAP and TANF to incentivize able-bodied adults without dependents to rejoin the workforce and contribute to their communities, blocks the president’s demand for $5 trillion in new taxes and includes real permitting reform that will speed up the approval process for infrastructure and energy projects. At the end of the day, the American people expect lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to work together for the good of the country, and that is exactly what this bill achieves.”
Earlier this week, Cole delivered extensive remarks on the legislation in a Rules Committee meeting and on the House floor. Rules committee meeting video here and transcript here. Floor remarks video here and transcript below.
I rise today in support of the rule, and the underlying legislation.
Mister Speaker, today’s legislation has been a long time coming. An agreement like the one we are considering today could and should have been in place much earlier. Instead, President Biden dithered and refused to negotiate with House Republicans, pushing us right up to the very brink of a catastrophic default.
From day one, Speaker McCarthy and House Republicans tried to get President Biden and Congressional Democrats to come to the negotiating table. But for months, they refused. Over and over again, President Biden refused to meet with Speaker McCarthy to discuss the debt limit and the budget. He insisted, over and over again, that it was his way or the highway. And he told us, over and over again, that the only thing he would accept was a clean debt ceiling increase. It was that or nothing.
Of course, it’s easy to understand why President Biden wouldn’t want to talk about cutting spending. Just look at the spending record he has amassed. Since he took office, President Biden and Congressional Democrats have increased the 10-year spending trajectory by ten trillion dollars. They did this by passing a partisan reconciliation bill that spent one point nine trillion dollars, and then by passing another partisan reconciliation bill that added up to six hundred billion dollars in new spending. And President Biden himself issued executive orders that added one point five trillion dollars in spending, including his reckless and unconstitutional four hundred billion dollar plan to cancel student loan debt.
When you lay it out like that, it’s easy to see how we reached the statutory debt ceiling so quickly, and it’s easy to see why President Biden and Congressional Democrats wouldn’t want any barriers to spending more and more money. They want the gravy train to keep flowing and the spending to keep increasing, which will ultimately lead the nation further and further into debt.
But House Republicans disagreed. And last month, we acted. We passed the Limit, Save, Grow Act, a bill that responsibly lifts the debt ceiling, and changes the trajectory of future spending downward. We agreed that the United States cannot, should not, and will not default on our national debt, but we also put forward clear, commonsense, and responsible savings that will bring reckless spending under control.
And what did Democrats do? Nothing. Not a thing. Not a single House Democrat voted to lift the debt ceiling. Not a single House Democrat voted to save trillions of dollars over the next ten years. Our friends in the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats, refused to take up the Limit, Save, Grow Act. And to this day, the Senate has refused to pass any bill lifting the debt limit. Not one.
But House Republicans have. For all the posturing on the other side of the aisle, I would remind everyone that House Republicans are the only ones who have taken concrete action to avoid a default. And President Biden’s refusal to negotiate for so long was what brought us so close to the brink of a catastrophic default in the first place.
But having said all that: today we are bringing a bill to the floor that will resolve this crisis. This bill is the result of negotiations between President Biden and House Republicans. It is not a perfect bill. But it does represent a compromise between the administration and Congress that is necessary in divided government. Nobody got everything they wanted. But the end result is a truly historic bill.
Consider what the bill does. It responsibly lifts the debt ceiling through January 1, 2025. In exchange, it also puts in place a series of fiscal reforms that will save taxpayers money. For the first time in history, we are pairing a debt ceiling increase with a year-over-year decrease in spending. We will be spending less in fiscal year 2024 than we are in fiscal year 2023, something that has never happened before. And we accomplish that goal while preserving funding for our national defense and ensuring our veterans get the care they need and deserve.
We have also clawed back twenty-eight billion dollars in unspent COVID pandemic relief dollars that are no longer needed, the largest rescission in history. We have cut one point four billion dollars that President Biden and Congressional Democrats want to give to the IRS for new agents. We will cap future spending at just one percent growth per year for the next six years. And we accomplish all this without including any new taxes or new government programs, rejecting President Biden’s demands to charge hard-working Americans five trillion dollars more.
But that is not all this bill does. It includes real policy victories that will improve the lives of everyday Americans. The bill includes the first major reforms to work requirements for SNAP and TANF, ensuring that we can help lift people on these programs out of poverty and into the workforce. The bill also includes major permitting reform provisions, reducing approval times for essential infrastructure and energy projects.
None of this would have happened but for President Biden’s decision to come to the table to negotiate. And none of this would have happened but for House Republicans doing the responsible thing and insisting on fiscal reforms. Together, we are doing something good for the nation. We are avoiding a devastating default on the national debt. And we are enacting needed fiscal reforms to put us on a more sustainable spending path.
Thank you, and I reserve the balance of my time.
