On Wednesday, 149 U.S. House Republicans joined 165 House Democrats in voting 314-117 to the Fiscal Responsibility Act to raise the national debt ceiling for two years and avoid a default on money borrowed.
More than half of Alabama's congressional delegation in the House voted with the majority in favor of the bill except for U.S. Reps. Dale Strong (R-Huntsville), Gary Palmer (R-Hoover) and Barry Moore (R-Enterprise), who dissented.
"I voted against this debt limit increase because I want to send a clear message that we cannot keep doing business as usual in Washington, or we will bankrupt our country," Strong said in a statement. "I understand that only controlling one-half of one-third of the federal government means conservatives would not be able to get everything they wanted at the negotiation table, but I expected more.
"While this deal has some good pieces, it isn't close to being whole," he continued. "I believe that conservatives could have gotten more in exchange for suspending Biden's debt ceiling for two years. We must put America first—and for that reason, I could not support this bill."
Moore condemned the act for adding trillions in new debt and delaying fixing the issues for further generations to deal with.
"The so-called 'Fiscal Responsibility Act' promises to saddle Americans with $4 trillion in new debt and kick the can down the road for two more years," said Moore. "This is a massive disappointment and a far cry from what Republicans passed in the Limit, Save, Grow Act. We must stand up to the Biden Administration and make stronger reforms if we want to protect our children and grandchildren from generations of burdensome debt."
U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Birmingham) voted in favor of the bill even though it was "far from perfect."
"I'm voting yes on the Bipartisan Budget Agreement. It is far from perfect, but it prevents a devastating default and protects against cruel Republican cuts," Sewell tweeted. "It's time to move on from this Republican-manufactured crisis and get back to doing the people's work!"
U.S. Reps. Jerry Carl (R-Mobile), Mike Rogers (R-Saks) and Robert Aderholt (R-Haleyville) also supported the legislation with the shared sentiment that the deal struck between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and President Joe Biden was as good as Republicans could hope for with a divided government in mostly Democrat control.
"I voted for the Fiscal Responsibility Act because it is the biggest spending cut and largest deficit reduction in US history. In fact, this spending cut is larger than all the cuts from previous years combined," Carl said. "I voted to prevent our credit rating from being downgraded and our markets from crashing, which would destroy the retirement savings of Americans across this country.
"The Fiscal Responsibility Act stops runaway spending, claws back tens of billions in unspent COVID funds, reins in overreach by the Biden administration, cuts red tape to streamline energy and infrastructure projects, restarts student loan payments, slashes funding for Biden's army of IRS agents, lifts Americans out of poverty, and ensures our seniors and our veterans receive every benefit they deserve," he continued. "This bill is just the first step of many to get our country back on track and ensure we don't saddle our children and grandchildren with debt they can never pay back."
The bill will now head to the U.S. Senate to be voted on before the Monday deadline to avoid a potential default.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email daniel.taylor@1819news.com.
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