While the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate passed a resolution suspending the debt ceiling, U.S. Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., wanted to give Congress another week to work on the issue.
Mills voted against the measure to suspend the debt ceiling for two years while offering the “Go Back to the Table Act.”
The freshman congressman explained the bill on Wednesday.
“The debt limit deal is a great optics campaign for government restraint and fiscal accountability, but the fine print strips any hope that the provisions will be enforced. I believe the American people deserve better than unnecessary concessions,” Mills said. “I’ve heard from my constituents in Florida’s Seventh, and I can’t in good conscience vote for the current deal, which doesn’t go far enough to outweigh the costs of half-hearted solutions.
“Republicans the past few months have emphasized the need to get back to pre-COVID spending levels, but the current deal only claws back less than 2 percent of the funds Democrats gave to the IRS,” Mills said. “The Limit, Save, Grow Act was a fiscally responsible and conservative bill. The Fiscal Responsibility Act is not what we passed.
“Rather than making serious reforms that benefit struggling Americans, the Fiscal Responsibility Act is a façade that doesn’t go far enough for the American people,” he continued. “That’s why I’m introducing the Go Back to the Table Act. This critical legislation will provide a 1-week extension of the public debt limit to give leadership and the administration a second chance at a new deal that’s fair to the American people while avoiding counterproductive brinkmanship.
“Default will hurt all of the people we care about, and I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting my legislation in the best interest of the American people,” Mills concluded. “This bill (the Fiscal Responsibility Act) is like filling a balloon with helium. It’s nice for the party, but the next day it’s a sad disappointment.”
U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop, R-NC, is the only House co-sponsor and there is no companion measure over in the Senate.
The bill was sent to the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee.
