Dear Friend,

Over the last several weeks I have heard from thousands upon thousands of 18th District residents who have called, emailed or visited my offices to weigh in with their thoughts and opinions on the debt ceiling negotiations.

As you’ve no doubt been reading in the news, over the last month leaders in the House, Senate and the President have been working on crafting a legislative package to raise the debt ceiling before August 2nd, when Treasury Secretary Geithner has said the authority of the United States to borrow any more money will cease, and the federal government may not be able to pay all its bills.

After a number of attempts to find a realistic solution that would avert a default and put our country on a sustainable fiscal path, members of the Senate and House reached an agreement, which the House approved on August 1, 2011 by a bipartisan vote of 269-161.

First, the framework cuts more in spending ($917 billion) than it increases in borrowing authority ($900 billion). Second, it implements strict spending caps that control and restrain spending in the future. And finally, it moves Washington one step closer to living within its means and operating under a balanced budget. It does not impact Social Security, Medicare benefits, and veteran benefits.

The framework creates a 12-Member bicameral bipartisan Committee that is required to report legislation by November 23 of this year that would further reduce the deficit by between $1.2 and $1.5 trillion over ten years. If Congress doesn’t act on the committee proposal or votes it down, then automatic spending cuts go into effect. The legislation is structured to ensure that Congress doesn’t get to the point where automatic spending cuts take place but instead works on finding cuts that make sense – where do we reduce spending in duplication, redundancy, overlap, waste, et cetera. Everything will be on the table, including the 72,356 pages of the tax code.

Finally, the agreement authorizes the President to request a second installment of a debt limit increase of up to $1.5 trillion only if (1) the Joint Committee cuts spending by greater amount than the requested debt limit hike OR (2) a Balanced Budget Amendment is sent to the states and at least $1.2 trillion in spending is cut.

This is not a perfect bill. But for purposes of this immediate debt ceiling increase, which is not long-term borrowing but rather paying for the debts we’ve already incurred, we have made cuts equal to the increase. The purpose of the select “super” committee of House and Senate members will be going into a deeper review, looking through the tax code for loopholes and looking through each agency budget for specific areas where we can we save money so we don’t raise taxes on working families. And where we don’t cut into programs that you’ve paid into throughout your working years.

I’ve heard from many of you who have been frustrated at the tedious nature of the back-and-forth negotiations over the debt ceiling. I’ve heard opinions covering every possible perspective: those who wanted no cuts, those who wanted nothing but spending cuts, and those who wanted even deeper cuts. Some wanted only taxes raised with no spending cuts, and some wanted the debt ceiling raised automatically with no strings attached. There have been those demanding immediate compromise and others who wanted no compromise under any circumstances, even if that meant we’d go into default.

Ultimately, the vast majority of you contacting my office urged solutions to prevent a default, get spending under control and frankly, get back to work on growing jobs and getting our economy back on track. I agree.

But I want to go back to this issue: What has appeared to be a broken system to those watching all of this play out on cable TV and radio is something that I offer may be what our Founding Fathers intended when they wrote our Constitution. No one person, one party, one sub-group or special interest was able to get everything they wanted. Despite how this has been portrayed in the media and through the blogs, a government that takes time to deliberate, debate, argue on issues of national importance puts us on a path towards consensus that holds accountable all involved. Democracy is an exchange of ideas, not a monarchy or a dictatorship where one person declares or dictates. And our constitutional Republic has a duty to adhere to that document even when it is very difficult.

What has truly amazed me is that through these deliberations, we’ve achieved results that reflect a monumental change from the status quo. At no time in the past seventy years have spending cuts been equal in magnitude to an increase in the debt limit with spending cuts and caps. This comes on top of Congress already having enacted $315 billion in spending cuts this year without impacting Social Security, Medicare, or veterans benefits.

As the process continues, I ask that you stay connected with me and continue this dialogue. Indeed, we still have a long way to go. Your input is valued and I appreciate you engaging in a constructive discussion with me.

Sincerely,

Tim