Senator Chuck Grassley issued the following comment about his vote against Majority Leader Harry Reid's proposal to increase the nation's borrowing authority by $2.4 trillion. Senator Grassley is a senior member of the Budget Committee. He also is Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee and supports a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.
"Senator Reid's bill would grant the largest debt ceiling increase in history allowing our national debt to rise to nearly $16.7 trillion. In exchange, it includes real spending cuts of only $900 billion over the next ten years. The American people want Congress to act to avoid default by August 2. But, Americans also want us to reverse the spending spree that got our country in this mess, and get us on a path to fiscal sanity. Now that it has been demonstrated that both Speaker Boehner's bill and Majority Leader Reid's bill do not have the necessary support, I hope serious, bipartisan discussions will lead to a solution to get this matter resolved."
