Statement on Passage of Fiscal Responsibility Act

“When I ran for Congress, I promised to do everything in my power to rein in the excessive federal spending that created the inflation crisis crushing California families. With today’s vote for the Fiscal Responsibility Act, we made a $2.1 trillion down payment on that promise – the largest single deficit reduction in U.S. history. We also achieved historic progress on permitting reform to advance American energy independence and reformed welfare programs to promote work and opportunity.

“Not many predicted this day. The President wouldn’t even meet with us for over three months as he insisted on raising spending even higher. But the American people wanted something very different: a bipartisan solution to avoid default and change the fiscal course of our nation. That is exactly what passed the House today. 

“This is only a first step. My attention will now turn to the Appropriations process as the next step in restoring fiscal sanity and eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse from the federal budget.” – Congressman Kevin Kiley

Background: After initially refusing to meet for 97 days or consider anything but a so-called clean-debt ceiling bill, President Biden finally relented and agreed to marathon negotiations with House Republicans leaders.  Those negotiations produced an agreement to raise the debt limit for two years in exchange for limits on spending as well as regulatory reforms which the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBS) estimates will save taxpayers $2.1 trillion.