by Billy Webster
June 2, 2023
On Tuesday, Congressman Timmons tweeted: “I am voting no on the debt ceiling deal which does nothing to reform Washington’s spending addiction or address the core drivers of our nation’s nearly $32 trillion national debt.”
What he really meant to say is, “I am a coward and voting with my Freedom Caucus Friends because I am afraid I’ll lose the next election if I do the right thing.”
Let’s be clear about three things.
First, our National Debt – the sum total of the amount of money our country has borrowed – is disgraceful. For decades, both Republican and Democratic presidents have added to the National Debt. The following numbers represent the percentage increase in the National Debt by President:
- Nixon +34.2%
- Ford +47.1%
- Carter +42.8%
- Reagan +186.4%
- GHW Bush +54.4%
- Clinton +31.6%
- GW Bush +105.1%
- Obama +70.0%
- Trump +40.4%
- Biden +8.8%
Blame is spread pretty evenly on this issue. There is simply no moral high ground on deficit spending.
Second, Timmons has done exactly nothing during his time in office to bend the curve of spending in the federal budget. No bills introduced, no effort to curtail spending in his Congressional District, no informed writing or speaking on the subject. He adopts the far-right, extremist rhetoric that Lauren Boebert and the rest of his Freedom Caucus mentors cobble together.
Third, Timmons demonstrates ZERO understanding of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA).
Specifically, major provisions of the FRA would:
- suspend the debt limit through January 1, 2025, allowing extraordinary measures to be used after that;
- impose discretionary spending caps for 2024 and 2025, along with discretionary spending targets from 2026-2029;
- limit 2024 defense spending to 3% above 2023 levels while reducing non-defense spending to roughly 2022 nominal levels;
- limit defense and non-defense discretionary spending growth to 1% in 2025;
- rescind unobligated COVID relief;
- reform SNAP and TANF work requirement rules.
For Timmons to state that the FRA ‘does nothing’ to address Washington’s addiction to deficits is factually false. Totally false. Half of his fellow Republicans and about the same number of Democrats disagreed with his conclusion.
Finally, what Timmons fails to mention – and let’s all hope he at least understands – is the irrevocable damage a US default would do to the American economy. The list of almost catastrophic consequences is long:
- interest rates on all forms of debt, from credit cards to home mortgages to US Treasuries, would soar;
- economic growth would sink, wiping out somewhere between 7-9 million jobs;
- unemployment rates would skyrocket;
- the prestige of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency would be irreparably damaged;
- US foreign policy would be negatively affected.
This is the second time in just over two years that a Timmons’ vote has put the country at risk. The first time when he voted NO in certifying Joe Biden’s election to the Presidency as he amplified Donald Trump’s election lies, directly resulting in an armed insurrection against the US government; and now he votes NO, thereby putting the country and its citizens in economic peril.
We deserve better.