As the U.S. House of Representatives prepares to vote Wednesday night to raise the national debt limit, U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) slammed the agreement struck between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and President Joe Biden, saying it is a "terrible deal" and that he intends to vote "no" if and when it makes its way to the Senate floor.
During an appearance on Huntsville's "The Dale Jackson Show" Wednesday morning, Tuberville ripped the deal for not cutting spending and for still including funding for the 87,000 new IRS agents.
"There's really not a lot of wins here for Republicans," Tuberville said. "Elections have consequences, and we have no control up here. The animals are running the zoo, and it's just out of control. They could care less. They're a bunch of socialists… It's a bad, bad deal. We've got to get control of these fraudulent elections because that's what they are. We've got to get back to making sure that they're fair, and if we don't do that, we're going to continue down this road, and we're going to run right off into the ditch and not ever be able to get out."
Tuberville said he could consider voting "yes" if the debt limit increase was around $1.5 trillion instead of the proposed $4 trillion.
"There's really not a limit to that… They got all ways around that," he said. "They can shuffle the deck up here and spend what they want. But if we could limit this to a certain amount — we've got to cut spending… We spend more up here in 30 minutes than most people could even dream of."
Tuberville warned that inflation would "hit the roof" if the federal government doesn't change its ways.
Though unhappy with the final bill, U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Haleyville) highlighted some of its positives and said "it is a step in the right direction."
"[T]he reality of our country's situation today is that, with a divided government, I think this agreement not only reflects the reality of the situation, it is a step in the right direction," Aderholt said in a statement to 1819 News. "If Republicans were in control of the Senate and the White House, then I would certainly expect more – more cuts to domestic spending, more funding for our national defense, more restraint on the debt ceiling in the future. Under this bill, we will, for the first time in our nation's history, spend less money than we did the previous year. It will lead us to smaller government and more prosperity. We all know that this agreement is not perfect, but let's be clear: Republicans will not stop here in our ongoing fight for fiscal accountability."
U.S. Sen. Katie Britt (R-Montgomery) said she was reviewing the bill but added that the country's future depends on getting control of the national debt.
"It's imperative that we restore fiscal sanity in America," she said. "Our country's ballooning national debt and reckless financial trajectory pose a grave threat to the American Dream surviving for our children and our children's children."
Currently, the national debt stands at $31.8 trillion.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email daniel.taylor@1819news.com.
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