No Debt Limit Increase Without Fiscal Reforms

 

September 6, 2017
Washington, DC

 

Congress faces numerous deadlines when they return to session in September. In addition to funding the government, providing relief for victims of Hurricane Harvey, and reauthorizing several major programs, they face a debt limit expiration.

Conservatives oppose any debt ceiling increase unless it includes major fiscal reforms that immediately put the country on a path to balance.

That these reforms are necessary is self-evident. The debt now stands at 77 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – the highest level since shortly after World War II. Last year, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the U.S. debt would balloon to 150 percent of economic output by 2047 unless tax and spending laws are changed. As Harvard economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff have concluded, a debt to GDP ratio of above 90 percent all but grinds economic growth to a halt.

The timing of this debt limit increase is particularly compelling given the previous progress conservatives have made on fiscal issues under a Democratic administration and Democratic Senate. The Budget Control Act – the most significant progress conservatives have made in decades – was passed as part of a debt limit negotiation with a Democrat president and a Democrat majority in the Senate.

With Republicans in unified control of the government this time around, settling for minor reforms – or, worse, for a debt ceiling increase with no reforms – would be a squandered opportunity.

Now is the time for Congress to cut the credit card. The debt ceiling should not be raised absent significant fiscal reforms that put the country on a path to balance. Any less would be a wasted opportunity to reform a fiscal system that is hurtling toward disaster.

 

 

The Honorable Edwin Meese III
Former
Attorney General
President Ronald Reagan

The Honorable Kenneth Blackwell
Chairman
Constitutional Congress, Inc.

Adam Brandon
President
Freedom Works

Haley E. Martin
President
The Martin Foundation

Rod D. Martin
Founder & CEO
The Martin Organization, Inc.

Nicholas Stehle
Campaign for the American Future

Diana Banister
President and Partner
Shirley & Banister Public Affairs

Ed Corrigan
Former Executive Director
Senate Steering Committee

Alfred S. Regnery
Chairman
CNP Action, Inc.

Lt. Gen. William G. “Jerry” Boykin (Ret.)
Executive Vice President
Family Research Council

William L. Walton
Chairman
CNP Action, Inc.

Rebecca Hagelin
Board of Directors, FamilyTalk
Secretary, Council for National Policy

Lee A. Beaman
CEO
Beaman Automotive Group

Floyd Brown
Chairman
Western Center for Journalism

James L. Martin
Founder & Chairman
60 Plus Association

Martha Boneta
Executive Vice President
Citizens for the Republic

William Pascoe
Managing Partner
Antietam Communications

J. Christian Adams
President
Public Interest Legal Foundation

Matt Mackowiak
Executive Director
Fight for Tomorrow

Willes K. Lee
President
National Federation of Republican Assemblies

Tim LeFever 
Chairman
Capitol Resource Institute

Dan Weber 
Founder and CEO
Association of Mature American Citizens

C. Preston Noell III
President
Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.

Nancy Schulze
Founder / Co-Chairman,
Republican Congressional Wives Speakers /
Congressional Prayer Caucus Wives Council

Anne Schlafly Cori
Chairman
Eagle Forum

Michael R. Long
State Chairman
NYS Conservative Party

The Honorable Mica Mosbacher
President
Mosbacher Interests

Bob Adams
President
Revive America PAC

The Honorable Tim G. Echols
Public Service Commissioner
State of Georgia

Melvin Adams
Former President
Renewanation

Tom Schatz
President
Citizens Against Government Waste

Tim Wildmon
President
American Family Association

Roxanne Phillips
Executive Committee
CNP

The Honorable Gary L. Bauer
President
American Values

The Honorable Terrence M Scanlon
Retired CEO / President
Capital Research Center

Jenny Beth Martin
Co-Founder & President
Tea Party Patriots

Neil Siefring
Vice President
Hilltop Advocacy, LLC

Mario H. Lopez
President
Hispanic Leadership Fund

David Williams
President
Taxpayers Protection Alliance

Lou Cordia
President,
Cordia & Associates Executive Director
President Reagan’s Alumni Association

Joseph A. Morris
Partner
Morris & De La Rosa

Anthony Saliba
Principle
Saliba Venture Management LLC

Susan A. Carleson
Chairman / CEO
American Civil Rights Union

Dean Nelson
Chairman
Frederick Douglass Foundation

Andresen Blom
Executive Director
Grassroot Hawaii Action

Donna Hearne
Chief Executive Officer
The Constitutional Coalition

John McCardell
President
America’s Liberty Committee

Elaine Donnelly
President
Center for Military Readiness

James C. Dobson Ph.D.
Founder & President
Family Talk

Dave N. Bossie
President
Citizens United

Cleta Mitchell, Esq.

The Honorable Becky Norton Dunlop
Chairman, Conservative Action Project
Former White House Advisor,
President Ronald Reagan

The Honorable Colin Hanna
President
Let Freedom Ring, Inc.

David Bozell
President
ForAmerica

Sherri R. Martin
Executive Vice President
The Martin Organization, Inc.

Shawn A. Mitchell
National Chaplain
National Federation of Republican Assemblies

Evelio Silvera
Campaign for the American Future

The Honorable Jim DeMint 
U.S. Senate
Former Member, South Carolina

The Honorable Tony Perkins MPA
President, Family Research Council
President, Council for National Policy

The Honorable T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr.
Chief Assistant to President Reagan
For Domestic Affairs

Tom Fitton
President
Judicial Watch, Inc.

The Honorable David McIntosh
President
Club Growth

The Honorable James C. Miller III
Budget Director
President Ronald Reagan

The Honorable Belden Bell
Co-Chair
Heritage Legacy Society

Ali Akbar
Senior Advisor
Black Conservatives Fund

Jim Backlin
Vice President of Legislative Affairs
Christian Coalition of America

Richard Wright
Owner
R & S LLC

Chuck Stetson
CEO
Stetson Family Office

Samuel B. Casey
Managing Director & General Counsel
Jubilee Campaign

The Honorable Diana Denman
President
Reagan Legacy Forum

Don Woodsmall
President
Love Thru Truth, Inc.

Bob Carlstrom
President
The Carlstrom Group, LLC

Christopher Malagisi
Editor in Chief
Conservative Book Club

Ron Robinson
President
Young America’s Foundation

Brandon Wheeler
Executive
Director
Freedom Research Foundation

Kevin Freeman
Founder
NSIC Institute

E.W. Jackson
President
STAND Foundation, Inc.

Judson Phillips
Founder
Tea Party Nation

Sal Russo
Founder and Chief Strategist
Tea Party Express

The Honorable Ken Cuccinelli II
President
Senate Conservatives Fund

Peter J. Thomas
Chairman
The Conservative Causus

J. Keet Lewis
Co-Founder
Lewis Group Intl

David A. Martin
Entrepreneur
Health Care

Jerome R. Corsi, Ph.D.
Washington Bureau Chief
Infowars.com

Ralph A. Rebandt II 
Senior Pastor
Oakland Hills Community Church

Robert K. Fischer
Meeting Coordinator
Conservatives of Faith

Allen Hebert
Chairman
American-Chinese Fellowship of Houston

Tricia Erickson
President
Angel Pictures & Publicity, Inc.

Jeff Hunt
Director
Centennial Institute

Nick Logan
Founder
Cornerstone Payment Systems

The Honorable Charles J. Cooper
Former Assistant Attorney General,
Ronald Reagan Administration
Cooper & Kirk

Theodore Baehr
Publisher
MOVIEGUIDE®

Penna Dexter
Co-Host
Point of View Radio

Lew Uhler
President
National Tax Limitation Committee

Tim Macy
Chairman
Gun Owners of America

John F. Tate
President
America’s Liberty PAC

The Honorable Mike Spence
Founding President
Conservative Republicans of California

Jerry Melvin
President
Florida Republican Assembly

Gerrye Johnston
Founder / CEO
Women for Democracy in America, Inc.

Richard A. Viguerie
Chairman
Conservative HQ

James O’Hickey
CNP

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