Toomey Responds to President on Debt Ceiling

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jan. 14, 2013

Contact: Nachama Soloveichik (202) 224-0437
or E.R. Anderson (202) 224-8609

SEN. TOOMEY RESPONDS TO
PRESIDENT ON DEBT CEILING

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) issued the following statement in response to President Obama’s press conference on the debt limit:

"The president’s repeated insistence that raising the debt ceiling is necessary to only pay the bills we have already incurred is patently false," Sen. Toomey said. "Past spending has already been funded through a combination of taxes collected and previously issued debt. The president is calling for an increase in the debt ceiling in order to issue new debt which will pay for future spending. It is precisely this future spending which must be brought under control.

"After all the middle class tax hikes in Obamacare and the tax increases he received at the end of last year, the president now wants still higher taxes to pay for even more spending. This must not happen. The more we tax and spend, the more we diminish incentives to work, save and invest, and the weaker our economy will be. Now is the time to focus on the real fiscal problem: overspending in Washington. Instead of engaging in scare tactics, the president should work with congress to achieve the genuine, significant spending cuts we need to put our country on a sustainable path."

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