WASHINGTON, D.C.- House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith (WA-09) released the following statement on the passage of H.R. 8, the fiscal cliff agreement:
"I voted against the fiscal cliff deal because it left
too much uncertainty for government programs, lacked a realistic path towards
deficit reduction, and fell short in providing necessary revenues to
effectively move towards fiscal responsibility.
"The legislation leaves far too much uncertainty on government
spending. Sequestration still looms, it was simply delayed two months, and the
debt ceiling was not addressed. As the Ranking Member on the Armed Services Committee, I am concerned that our Department of Defense once again faces a situation where they do not know how much money they will have to spend, and the very real possibility of indiscriminate across-the-board cuts just two months from now. (emphasis added)
“ I
am also concerned that all other areas of discretionary spending--education,
transportation, infrastructure, housing, and more--face this same crippling
uncertainty. I recognize that defense and other areas of spending will face cuts, but we should be clear on what those cuts will be and they need to be more thoughtful than the blind across-the-board approach of sequestration. (emphasis added)
"Second, the deal did nothing to address our long term
debt and deficit problems. No grand bargain was reached that could help
our economy right now by giving some clear picture of what our ten-year plan is
to achieve some measure of fiscal responsibility. I understand that our
current situation means that balancing the budget in that ten-year period is
not a wise policy decision. But we should at least have something in
place that shows we will keep the debt at a manageable level. This bill
failed to do that.
"And third, not only did this bill fail to offer that
ten-year plan, it made getting to a reasonable ten-year plan far more difficult
by making permanent 90 percent of the Bush Tax Cuts. By not allowing
those tax cuts to expire, and then making them permanent, we took $3.5 trillion
of revenue off the table. This will lead to one of two results, both of which I
am strongly against. Either our debt will climb over 100 percent of GDP or we
will have to make devastating cuts in vital programs like Medicare, Social
Security, Medicaid, education, transportation and more.
"We face very tough choices right now. Our
economy is weak, and our debt is substantial and growing by nearly one trillion
dollars a year with no end in sight. There are no easy answers. But
continuing to take an approach that delays addressing the fundamental choices
we face will only make matters worse."
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