Bayh Will Oppose More Borrowing Authority Unless Congress Agrees to New Debt-Fighting Plan
Congressional Desk
November 14, 2009
Testifying as former Indiana governor who had to balance books, Bayh leads "institutional insurrection" before Senate Budget Committee
Washington – In testimony before the Senate Budget Committee, Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) said he would not vote to raise the federal debt limit unless Congress commits to a strict new process to rein in America´s record $12 trillion national debt.
"Who would have thought that the Budget Committee would be the site for the beginning of an institutional insurrection, but here we are," Bayh testified before the committee. "Many of us count ourselves as pragmatists not idealists, moderates not extremists. Yet here we are, asking for a change in the way business is done in Washington."
Congress has voted to raise the debt limit eight times since 2001. The national debt has doubled during this decade. Bayh called Washington´s current fiscal trajectory "the path to national weakness."
Bayh said he would use the upcoming vote on raising the debt ceiling as leverage to establish a new debt-fighting process. "There are rare moments of leverage in this institution where you can implement fundamental change," Bayh said. "This is one of those moments. We must seize it."
Bayh supports creating a bipartisan commission that would debate politically difficult measures to fight the country´s mounting debt. Congress would then be compelled by law to debate the commission´s suggestions and take an up-or-down vote on the entire plan.
As Indiana´s governor from 1989 to 1996, Bayh balanced the budget, never raised taxes and left the largest surplus ($1.6 billion) in the history of Indiana.
Last month, Senator Bayh wrote a letter signed by nine of his moderate Democratic colleagues urging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to approve a "special process that allows Congress and the administration to face up to our nation´s long-term fiscal imbalances."
Washington – In testimony before the Senate Budget Committee, Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) said he would not vote to raise the federal debt limit unless Congress commits to a strict new process to rein in America´s record $12 trillion national debt.
"Who would have thought that the Budget Committee would be the site for the beginning of an institutional insurrection, but here we are," Bayh testified before the committee. "Many of us count ourselves as pragmatists not idealists, moderates not extremists. Yet here we are, asking for a change in the way business is done in Washington."
Congress has voted to raise the debt limit eight times since 2001. The national debt has doubled during this decade. Bayh called Washington´s current fiscal trajectory "the path to national weakness."
Bayh said he would use the upcoming vote on raising the debt ceiling as leverage to establish a new debt-fighting process. "There are rare moments of leverage in this institution where you can implement fundamental change," Bayh said. "This is one of those moments. We must seize it."
Bayh supports creating a bipartisan commission that would debate politically difficult measures to fight the country´s mounting debt. Congress would then be compelled by law to debate the commission´s suggestions and take an up-or-down vote on the entire plan.
As Indiana´s governor from 1989 to 1996, Bayh balanced the budget, never raised taxes and left the largest surplus ($1.6 billion) in the history of Indiana.
Last month, Senator Bayh wrote a letter signed by nine of his moderate Democratic colleagues urging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to approve a "special process that allows Congress and the administration to face up to our nation´s long-term fiscal imbalances."
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