Charles W. Stenholm: “this week the Blue Dog Coalition expressed our deep concern over the announcement that the Federal Government had…”

“this week the Blue Dog Coalition expressed our deep concern over the announcement that the Federal Government had reached the debt limit just 9 months after increasing it by $450 billion. The Federal Government hitting the debt limit so soon after raising it by so much merely validates our concern of the fiscal policies we are now following. Due to the debt limit being reached, the Department of the Treasury announced it will dip into Federal retirement programs to circumvent the debt limit, an action for which House Republicans severely criticized Secretary of Treasury Bob Rubin for taking in 1996. Less than 6 years ago, 225 of my Republican friends voted to soundly reprimand and prohibit then-Secretary Rubin from taking precisely the actions announced this week by Secretary Snow. The silence of the Republicans in Congress about the announcement made by the Bush administration stands in stark contrast to the reaction from many of my same Republican colleagues to Secretary Rubin's action. A 1995 resolution, authored by a then anti-deficit Republican majority, insisted that a balanced budget would ensure lower interest rates, a faster rate of economic growth, increased national wealth, increased rates of savings and investment, faster growth in the capital stock, higher productivity, and improved trade balances. I agreed with my Republican colleagues 6 years. I wish they agreed with me today.”