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Graves, Tom
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Graves Discusses Debt Limit Compromises on Bloomberg TV:
“I'm willing to stand firm for a Balanced Budget Amendment, for caps on federal spending, and for significant cuts today in order to save the next generation.”
Washington, D.C., Jul 8 -
Graves Discusses Debt Limit Compromises on Bloomberg TV: U.S. Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA-09) was interviewed by Erik Schatzker on Bloomberg TV’s InsideTrack this morning about the debt limit negotiations and rumored compromises on the table. Graves on negotiations and compromises: Graves on “the risk of not reaching a deal”: Graves on demanding a Balanced Budget Amendment: Graves on the August 2nd deadline: Graves on Cut, Cap, and Balance:I'm willing to stand firm for a Balanced Budget Amendment, for caps on federal spending, and for significant cuts today in order to save the next generation.
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“I'm willing to stand firm for a Balanced Budget Amendment, for caps on federal spending, and for significant cuts today in order to save the next generation.”
You know, when we hear the word “compromise” on Capitol Hill, that's what got us into this mess over the last several decades, and it's been Republican and Democrat. This is no time to compromise. We've got to hold firm right now. We have $14 trillion in debt. We cannot continue to compromise America's future, and so we've got to make the difficult decisions today. Any word of compromise to me is only kicking the can down the road. It's the status quo continuing, and it is not going to reduce the debt and deficit we have here in Washington.
Well, a lot of people talk about the risk of no deal, and I think we need to be discussing what is the risk if we continue what we've been doing, and that, to me, is far greater. We cannot sustain the debt load that we have. It's going to crush our children and grandchildren. My 11-year-old son has been with me this week in Washington, and he said to me the other day, ‘Dad, can y'all fix this debt mess? Because I don't want to pay $60,000 when I get older.’ You think about that, that's a young man, 11 years old, probably gets a couple dollars a week in allowance. He knows that he cannot dig out from underneath that debt that we're putting on him and on everyone else.
I think, look, balancing the budget, is that very difficult? That is one of the most reasonable requests I think anyone could ask, and that is, hey, Washington, only spend what you have.
I think it's very safe to say that August 2nd is a deadline that's been put out there by Timothy Geithner. It’s just been moved throughout time. [The Treasury Department is] already preparing for that date and to go past that date. They have things they can do to maneuver. But, the one thing we need share is the federal government still will have over $200 billion in revenue every month. The taxpayers of this country still will be taxed and it will be taken from them and it will be spent. It will be the President and the Treasury Secretary determining how they allocate those funds.
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You still have plenty of revenue to pay the interest. You have plenty of revenue pay the federal government, you're going to have two-thirds of all the revenue that the federal government requires to fund its programs available each and every month. So it's a -- I guess it's a question of managing the cash flow and making difficult decisions, and that's what the President and Timothy Geithner are going to do if they don't move to the position of living within our means as a federal government.