One day after the U.S. Treasury Department confirmed the national debt surpassed $13 trillion for the first time in U.S. history, Congressman Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) renewed his call for Congress to consider the Spending Limit Amendment to the Constitution of the United States (H.J.Res.79) to rescue the nation from financial ruin. The constitutional amendment simply limits the federal government’s spending to one-fifth of the U.S. economy – the historical average since World War II. The limit could only be waived if a declaration of war was in effect or by a two-thirds vote of Congress. Such measures are necessary to limit spending as CBO estimates the President’s budget increases government spending to an alarming average of 24.1 percent of GDP over the next decade.

“Eclipsing $13 trillion in debt should serve as a wake up call to those in power that we have got to start cutting spending now,” said Upton. “We had an opportunity last week to listen to the American public via the YouCut program and save $30 billion over the next decade by freezing federal pay, but unfortunately partisan politics prevailed. We are on a dangerous path and we cannot afford to keep spending at this breakneck pace. It is well past time for serious solutions and the Spending Limit Amendment to the Constitution will preserve our nation’s fiscal integrity and rescue future generations from insurmountable debt.”

On March 5th, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an analysis of the President’s budget, forecasting a record $1.5 trillion deficit for 2010 and $1.8 trillion in tax increases through 2020. By 2020, the debt is forecast to surpass $20 trillion which will be an alarming 90 percent of the economy. Interest payments on the debt are expected to more than quadruple in the next ten years, rising from $209 billion this year to $916 billion in 2020.

Upton is a strong supporter of a number of other budget reforms including the earmark ban and line-item veto and has signed onto the Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution of the United States (H.J.Res.1). The constitutional amendment simply prohibits government spending for any fiscal year from exceeding total receipts for that fiscal year (except those derived from borrowing), unless explicitly authorized by both bodies of Congress by a three-fifths vote. The amendment would also require a three-fifths vote of each chamber to increase the public debt limit.

Last Friday, Upton joined fellow House Republicans by voting to eliminate the 1.4 percent pay raise for non-military federal employees proposed by the Obama administration.  The spending cut proposal was selected by the American public via the groundbreaking YouCut program. 87,124 votes were cast via YouCut to eliminate the proposed pay raise for all non-uniformed government employees which would save taxpayers $30 billion over the next 10 years.  Unfortunately, the Republican effort was blocked by a vote of 227 to 183.  Each week, YouCut offers the public a list of five proposals aimed at reducing government spending.  In turn, participants may vote for the one proposal that they would most like to see addressed by Congress.  Folks may access YouCut via Upton’s website at http://www.house.gov/upton.