Heck Statement on Voting Against Suspending Debt Limit

WASHINGTON - Congressman Joe Heck (NV-03) today released the following statement after voting against H.R. 325, the No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013, which would suspend the debt limit for three months and require each chamber to pass its own budget resolution.

"I have said repeatedly that I would not consider voting to raise the debt limit unless there were major spending reductions included in the bill -- this bill has exactly zero spending cuts. What's worse is that this bill doesn't actually raise the debt limit, it suspends – or rather, ignores it - for three months, essentially giving the President a blank check.  This bill sets up yet another debt limit showdown and further delays serious action on our nation's debt and spending issues. I strongly doubt Nevadans are sitting at home hoping Congress can find a way to set up another fiscal cliff.

"That said, I strongly agree that both the House and Senate should meet their current legal obligation to pass a budget, and support the “no budget, no pay” concept.  But this bill falls well short of what the American people expect. Rather than requiring Congress to work together and agree on one budget resolution, this bill simply states that each chamber must pass its own budget. That approach gets us no closer to addressing Washington's out of control spending and the major drivers of our debt."

Background:

Congressman Heck is a co-sponsor of H.R. 310, the No Budget, No Pay Act, which provides that Members of Congress may not be paid after October 1 of a fiscal year in which Congress has not approved a budget resolution and passed the regular appropriations bills.

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