Platts: debt-ceiling deadline must be met
If Congress misses the deadline, Platts said, that will downgrade the national credit rating, and loans will become more expensive — thereby costing Americans more money.
And he said underlying reforms are needed in the current national budgeting system, under which about 40 cents of every dollar spent comes from borrowed money and public debt is edging close to 100 percent of the gross domestic product.
“Bottom line is we have a significant spending problem in Washington, and that needs to change,” Platts said.
Platts said he likes the “Cut, Cap and Balance” plan that passed in the House on Tuesday. He ought to. He co-sponsored it.
He said he likes it because it would make immediate spending cuts, and long-term cuts amounting to $5 trillion over the next decade.
The plan would also make raising a debt limit contingent on starting the process for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. Any such amendment would require the approval of a super-majority in Congress as well as three quarters of the state General Assemblies, and might not pass at all. But Platts said it would at least get things moving in the right direction.
Platts doesn’t yet know about the bipartisan “Gang of 6″ proposal gaining momentum in the Senate. He would have to see it and weigh its particulars before deciding on it. But he said he likes what he’s heard so far.
“The general framework they’re looking at is encouraging,” he said.
Read more: http://www.ydr.com/politics/ci_18521085
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