Sen. Mike Lee Says He'll Vote Against Budget Bill

Sen. Mike Lee Says He'll Vote Against Budget Bill

Newsmax ^ | 13 Apr 2011 | Jim Meyers and Kathleen Walter

Posted on Wednesday, April 13, 2011 5:45:29 PM by Qbert

Freshman Sen. Mike Lee tells Newsmax that he will vote against passage of the federal spending bill agreed to last week because the cuts being discussed are “absolutely miniscule” compared to the overall fiscal problems.
The Utah Republican also says he will oppose raising the ceiling on federal debt and “use every tool at my disposal” to see that it won’t be raised.
[Snip]
“I intend to vote no, because I think it’s not nearly enough,” he responds.
“And more importantly it’s not accompanied by any kind of structural reform mechanism designed to change the way we spend money, and so the problem is going to continue to exist.
[Snip]
Lee recently said he would back away from threats to filibuster attempts at raising the debt ceiling if progress is made toward a balanced budget amendment.
Discussing the vote to raise the debt ceiling, Lee says: “I know that I’m going to vote no. I know that I’m going to use every tool at my disposal to try to interfere with any efforts to raise the debt ceiling.
“I think anything that is offered in exchange for the agreement to raise the debt ceiling is going to have to be very very significant.
“It would have to be in my mind something that changes the way we spend money, so that we are not spending money constantly that we don’t have, so that we’re not racking up a huge bill that we will then send our grandchildren.

“In my mind the only thing that could do that is a balanced budget amendment. It’s the only way we can guarantee that Congress will be put into kind of an economic straightjacket where it can’t continue to harm itself.”

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