Today, U.S. Congressman Scott Peters (CA-52) voted against a proposed amendment to the Constitution that would require Congress to pass a balanced federal budget, calling it “profoundly hypocritical” for House Republicans to call for a balanced budget just weeks after they passed a tax cut plan that adds $1.8 trillion dollars to the national deficit in a decade.  The bill, passed along a party line vote today, would severely hinder Congress’ ability to fund certain programs, would lead to uncertainty in the budget process, and fails to identify meaningful spending decreases and revenue increases that could actually lead to deficit reduction and a more balanced budget.

Rep. Peters released the following statement:

“Since coming to Congress, I’ve been calling on both sides to come to the table and have a serious discussion about new revenues and targeted spending cuts that will lead to reducing our national deficit over time. I remain committed to working with anyone to make the tough decisions we were sent here to make; this bill is not the answer and does nothing to actually fix Washington’s bad budgeting habits.

Republicans seem to think this amendment will make us forget their constant attempts to blow up the national debt—their tax bill alone adds $1.8 trillion to the deficit over the next ten years. Today’s political move is profoundly hypocritical and does nothing to fix our mounting national debt.

It’s astonishing that ‘the party of fiscal responsibility’ is pushing this proposal when debt is on track to overtake the size of our economy by 2028 and Congress has no plans to pass a budget this year.

Our economy can’t afford for Congress to keep playing games with our national debt. We need a long-term, fiscally responsible budget—not a gimmick to compensate for irresponsible spending.”