Thursday, October 5th, 2017

Senator Tim Scott: Washington Fails Again at Responsible Budgeting

Contact: (202) 224-2718

Washington- U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) released the following statement regarding his votes on the continuing resolution that will fund government operations in absence of a federal budget. Senator Scott voted ‘no,’ both on cloture and on passage of the bill.

“I am opposed to Obamacare, plain and simple, and I fully support repealing the law and preventing further harm to American families and businesses. The Unaffordable Care Act is raising premiums, forcing millions into part-time work, and raising taxes on our families. It’s time to repeal the law and move on. However, we are overlooking another major point as we deal with our country’s latest budget crisis.

“I opposed this continuing resolution for the same reason I opposed the previous one earlier this year. The process of using continuing resolutions – short-term, month-to-month budgeting – represents a failure of one of our most basic duties. Congress needs to uphold its duty to pass a real budget that confronts our spending crisis and scales back our overgrown government. Even if we manage to avoid a shutdown in the next few days, we will be having this same debate again in just six weeks. We are perpetually moving from crisis to crisis with no thought given to how to address the larger issue of spending and fiscal solvency.

“This is no way to run a government. Families and businesses know they have to get by on the money that comes in and adjust as circumstances change. We eliminate unnecessary expenses, save when we can, and always have an eye toward the future. Washington has repeatedly failed to play by these same rules. The process of Band Aid budgeting does not adjust for inefficient, duplicative, and wasteful programs. We merely march forward with an even bigger government bogged down by greater bureaucratic hurdles that hurt our economy and hurt our families.

“I applaud the effort to defund Obamacare and I will continue to be a strong supporter of efforts to repeal the law. However, I cannot support this stopgap spending measure and further grind our budgeting process to a halt. It’s time for Washington to show some fiscal foresight and pass a real, responsible, long-term budget.”

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