gop-rep.-elect-lawler:-congress-needs-a-‘come-to-jesus’-moment-on-spending

GOP Rep.-Elect Lawler: Congress Needs A ‘Come To Jesus’ Moment On Spending

Published On: 5. Dezember 2022 2:36

Republican Congressman-elect Mike Lawler said that Congress needs a “come to Jesus” moment on spending.

Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, Lawler, who defeated Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman Sean Patrick Maloney in last month’s midterms, said Congress needs to stop the reckless spending that keeps adding to the national debt, while keeping programs like Social Security and Medicare sustainable.

“There’s no question our debt is out of control,” Lawler told host Jake Tapper. “I mean, we’re talking about over $30 trillion. We need to get spending under control. Under the Biden administration, we have increased spending by over $4 trillion. There’s no question that this is unsustainable. And so, certainly, there are levers of power within Congress, and debt ceiling votes are one of them. At the end of the day, we have to pay our debt and we have to ensure that the government is functional and operating. But I think there really needs to be, frankly, a come to Jesus on this when it comes to spending. Both parties have been guilty of this over recent years. And we need to be serious about tackling our out-of-control spending and debt.”

At the same time, Lawler said that it was critically important to protect Social Security and Medicare. “We need to ensure that the trust fund is sustainable,” he said. “And so I think we need to evaluate what needs to be done. Frankly, I think there should be a blue-ribbon commission, much like was done back in the ’80s, a bipartisan commission, to evaluate the long term aspect of Social Security and Medicare. But we have a responsibility to fulfill our commitments there. And so my objective is to make sure that they are sustainable for the long term.”

Later this month, Congress is expected to take up a budget resolution to fund the government until some time next year. Democrats in both houses are also hoping to get a deal done to raise the federal debt ceiling, before Republicans take control of the House of Representatives in the new Congress. Democratic leaders have not planned a vote on the bill, though, amid concerns that they don’t have the votes to force it through.

Meanwhile, Republican South Dakota Senator John Thune told Bloomberg this week that Republicans intend to use the debt ceiling fight to push reforms to the entitlement programs, which make up the bulk of the federal budget.

“There’s a set of solutions there that we really need to take on if we’re going to get serious about making these programs sustainable and getting this debt bomb at a manageable level before it’s too late,” Thune said.

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