Budget & Debt Reduction
Promoting Responsible Budgets and Restoring Fiscal Discipline
Senator Reed has a proven track record of fiscal responsibility. As the United States emerges from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, Senator Reed is working hard to put our nation back on a sound fiscal course, while also laying the foundation for future economic growth and development.
Balancing the budget means making hard choices to align spending with revenues, and this effort must include reforming the tax code. Senator Reed took the tough votes in the 1990s to help balance the national budget and create record surpluses. He also opposed the unfunded Bush tax cuts skewed to the wealthiest, the costly war in Iraq, a prescription drug program that failed to negotiate costs with drug makers and left many seniors without coverage, and other special interest giveaways that squandered the hard fought surplus and led to record deficits.
To get our nation’s fiscal house in order Senator Reed supports ending wasteful expenditures, capping spending, and shared sacrifice. He understands that it is critical to fight for Pell Grants, Medicare, and other initiatives that are critical to Rhode Island families.
Read More »Key Priorities & Accomplishments
- Supported historic deficit-reduction packages and other steps that helped balance the budget—led to a projected ten-year surplus of $5.6 trillion in 2001—and enabled the U.S. government to pay down over $450 billion of public debt between 1998 and 2001.
- As the U.S. took extraordinary steps to prevent the collapse of the entire financial system and millions of job losses, Reed successfully fought to include a provision in the law giving taxpayers stock options in the firms they saved. Thanks to Reed’s law, as the banks repaid their original loans taxpayers earned more than $8.5 billion in additional dividends – money that would have otherwise been kept by the banks.
- Helped pass a bipartisan landmark defense procurement reform law to stop fraud and wasteful spending at the Pentagon and prevent hundreds of billions in cost overruns.
- Voted against costly, special interest giveaways to big oil and agri-businesses.
The Latest
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Reed Speaks on Income Inequality and Budget Debate
Madam President, I rise today to speak about the real-world consequences of failing to achieve a fair and balanced solution to avert the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts that would otherwise occur at the end of December--the end of this month. Failing to continue unemployment insurance, allowing tax...
Posted on 12/14/2012 | -
Reed Votes to Eliminate Subsidies for Big Sugar
In an effort to protect consumers and save U.S. taxpayers millions of dollars annually, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) today voted for a bipartisan initiative to phase out the controversial sugar price-support program, which artificially raises sugar prices for families and businesse...
Posted on 6/13/2012 | -
Reed Commends Obama Administration for Eliminating Wasteful $1 Presidential Coin Production
U.S. Senator Jack Reed today commended the Obama Administration’s announcement that the U.S. Mint is suspending the production of Presidential dollar coins for circulation. Today, nearly 1.4 billion surplus dollar coins are sitting in Federal Reserve vaults due...
Posted on 12/13/2011 | -
Reed Sees Path Forward to Prevent Default
Tonight the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives finally voted on their debt ceiling proposal, just four days before a threatened U.S. default could push the nation into economic chaos. Despite having a 48 seat majority in the House, Republicans barely...
Posted on 7/29/2011 | -
CBO Says Democratic Deficit Reduction Plan Saves U.S. $2.2 Trillion, Nearly 3 Times the Republican Bill
- The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) today reported that the Senate Democratic bill to prevent default and cut spending will reduce the budget deficit by about $2.2 trillion over the next ten years, nearly three times the $850 billion credited to the House Republi...
Posted on 7/27/2011 | -
Reed Warns RI Families Could Suffer if U.S. Forced into Default
- With one week remaining before the United States hits an August 2nd deadline when the government runs out of money to pay its bills unless Congress acts, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) today warned that the Republican-created impasse on the debt ceiling could have sev...
Posted on 7/26/2011 | -
Reed: We Can Reduce Deficit in a Way that Grows Jobs, Protects Middle Class
Mr. REED. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about the regrettable and avoidable looming debt crisis if we don't take appropriate and timely steps beginning today and continuing over the next few days. As we continue to work to get our economy out from under a protracted and painful recession and on a m...
Posted on 7/19/2011 |