Dalton, GA, August 10, 2011 -

Dalton Daily Citizen: Graves says market shows debt deal was bad
By Charles Oliver

U.S. Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ranger, says he wasn’t surprised that Standard & Poor’s downgraded federal debt on Friday, just days after Congress approved a deal to raise the federal debt ceiling by some $2.1 trillion.

“I voted against raising the debt ceiling, and I said at the time if the goal was just to raise the debt ceiling, then that bill was a good bill. It did raise the debt ceiling,” Graves told an audience of about 200 at the Dalton Freight Depot Tuesday night.

“But if the goal is to reduce our debt and to reduce our dependence on China, then it was a bad deal because it didn’t do that, and I think the markets have responded to that fact,” he said to strong applause.

Graves was one of the members of the House of Representatives who developed the “cut, cap and balance” approach to dealing with the debt issue. That plan called for cutting spending in the current budget, capping future spending except for defense and some entitlements at a set percentage of the gross domestic product, and passing a balanced budget amendment. The Republican-controlled House passed a “cut, cap and balance” bill last month, but the measure was tabled by the Democrat-controlled Senate.

Graves fielded questions from a number of people in one of several town hall forums he is hosting across Georgia’s 9th Congressional District during Congress’ August recess. But before talking to residents, Graves had his staff give them a survey on federal budget issues so the audience could see how well they knew what Congress faces.

Graves told the audience that the federal debt currently comes to 100 percent of gross domestic product — the nation’s total annual economic output — or more than $14 trillion.

“We could tax all of out output, and it would just pay our debt,” he said.

The federal government currently spends about $3.1 trillion a year, and it borrows 40 percent of everything it spends. The survey, citing White House Office of Management and Budget statistics, said that cutting waste, fraud and abuse would reduce spending by just $100 billion, and cutting pork barrel projects and projects earmarked by Congress would save just $17 billion.

“When I ran for office, I knew Washington was a mess, but I didn’t know it was this big of a mess,” Graves said.

Some audience members seemed to agree.

Read More: http://daltondailycitizen.com/local/x850295258/Graves-says-market-shows-debt-deal-was-bad