Congressman Doug Lamborn today co-sponsored a historic bill that would require a balanced budget amendment to pass Congress and be sent to the states, significant budget cuts, and caps on future spending in exchange for allowing the debt ceiling to rise.

“This common-sense proposal would fundamentally change the way Washington does business. It would require a balanced budget amendment in our Constitution for the first time in our nation's history. It imposes significant spending cuts and puts hard caps in place to bring our spending down.

“This bill recognizes that Washington cannot continue to do business as usual. It recognizes that our country is in grave fiscal danger and takes bold action to fix the problem.”– Congressman Doug Lamborn (CO-05)

The Cut, Cap, and Balance Act of 2011 would do the following things:

CUT

Cuts total spending by $111 billion in FY 2012.  The savings are divided as follows:

• Reduce non-security discretionary spending below 2008 levels, which saves $76 billion. 
   
• $35 billioncut to non-veterans, non-Medicare, non-Social Security mandatory spending. 
   
• Defense budget at President’s level. 
   

CAP

Total federal spending is scaled back based on the glide path for the fiscal years below:

2012, 22.5% of GDP.

2013, 21.7% of GDP.

2014, 20.8% of GDP.

2015, 20.2% of GDP.

2016, 20.2% of GDP.

2017, 20.0% of GDP.

2018, 19.7% of GDP.

2019, 19.9% of GDP.

2020, 19.9% of GDP.

2021, 19.9% of GDP.

BALANCE

• Requires the passage of a qualifying Balanced Budget Amendment before raising the nation’s debt limit.
   

DEBT CEILING INCREASE CONTINGENT ON BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT

• Provides for the President’s request for a debt ceiling increase if a qualifying Balanced Budget Amendment passes Congress and is sent to the states for ratification. 
   

For a fact sheet on Cut, Cap, and Balance, click here.