Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Mark Udall issued the following statement as the President's bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform prepared to vote on a proposal to reduce the national debt:“The political approach to our ballooning national debt has, for too long, been to kick the can down the road. Understandably, policy makers have been reluctant to make the inevitably difficult decisions required to get our fiscal house in order. But we’ve now run out of road. Our country’s debt isn’t just a challenge facing the next generation – it is a looming national disaster that affects every American today.
“For the last eight months, the chairmen of the President’s bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform have worked to assemble a constructive proposal to reduce our debt. I applaud them for their work and for their courage. Their report is aptly called ‘The Moment of Truth.’ Tomorrow, the commission members will cast a vote that will determine whether to take the plan to the next step – consideration by Congress.
“I don’t expect to agree with every recommendation, nor do I expect everyone on the commission to agree with all of the recommendations. Nevertheless, the report is an important first step, and it deserves serious consideration. I hope members of the commission will put politics aside in favor of making the tough decisions needed to put our country on a fiscally sustainable course. Now is the time to act to protect our prosperity and our national security.”
Throughout his career in the U.S. House of Representatives and now the Senate, Senator Udall has called for strong steps to restrain federal spending, including the line-item veto, pay-as-you-go spending measures, and an end to the practice of earmarked spending by members of Congress. He backed a Senate proposal to create a bipartisan commission to recommend measures to reduce the debt, and when it failed at the end of last year, he was among a small group of Senators strongly urging President Obama to create the current debt-reduction commission.
