With America currently borrowing roughly 40 cents of every dollar and every American owing our nation’s creditors more than $46,000, U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-9) voted today in favor of H.R. 2560, the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act of 2011. This legislation codifies major spending cuts, institutes enforceable caps on government spending, and requires congressional passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment before the debt ceiling can be raised. Luetkemeyer is an original co-sponsor of the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act of 2011.

“This legislation to cut, cap, and balance is a victory for current and future generations of Americans,” Luetkemeyer said. “Missouri families, businesses, and even state government must balance their respective budgets, and we should expect nothing less from Washington. With today’s historic vote, we have the opportunity to finally reverse the financial burdens that have been placed on our children and grandchildren, reinvigorate our economy and demonstrate to markets and creditors at home and abroad that we are serious about tackling our country’s debt.”

TheCut, Cap, and Balance Act would put three spending measures in places to ensure real spending reforms are met:

• Immediate Spending Cuts, by cutting total spending by $111 billion in Fiscal Year 2012, reducing non-defense discretionary spending below 2008 levels.
• Enforceable Spending Caps, by putting into place statutory, enforceable caps to ratchet down the amount the government is allowed to spend each year, bringing spending in line with the historic average of 20 percent of GDP by 2021 (spending is now averaging 23 percent of the GDP). This provision would save American taxpayers $5.8 trillion over ten years. 
• Balancing the Budget, by requiring congressional passage of a qualifying Balanced Budget Amendment in order to raise the debt limit.  An example of a qualifying Balanced Budget Amendment is House Joint Resolution 1, of which Luetkemeyer is also a co-sponsor. The Balanced Budget Amendment requires the president to submit a balanced budget to Congress, a super majority vote to raise the debt ceiling, a super majority vote to raise taxes, and a super majority vote to increase government outlays as a percentage of the national economy.

Luetkemeyer earlier this year voted against a stand-alone resolution to increase the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion, citing it as another blank check for the federal government.

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