Yoho Votes Against Hastily Written Budget Bill

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Ted S. Yoho (R-FL -03) voted against H.R. 1314 – Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA). This bill was negotiated in secret, rushed to the House floor for a vote with little notice and will increase the United States’ national debt close to $20 trillion. Congressman Yoho released the following statement after his vote:

“I believe the Bipartisan Budget Act that was brought before the House today is a bad bill and wrong for America. The nature in which it was negotiated and pushed off onto Members is symbolic of what is wrong with the political process in Congress and is exactly what angers the majority of Americans.

“I attempted to block this bill from coming to the floor by voting against the House rule, which would have prevented it from even coming up for an official vote. The reasons for my opposition to this hastily thrown together budget bill are numerous.  Here are just a few reasons for my ‘no’ vote.

• It suspends a cap on our national debt ceiling until March of 2017, similar to what Congress did in 2014 - adding an additional $1.5 trillion to our national debt.
• It has a superficial “pay for” in pension compensation that is postponed for ten years, which is in essence establishing another D.C. shell game.
• This bill robs from Medicare by collecting less now, while making our seniors pay extra in monthly premiums.
• It robs from social security and increases the amount both the employer and employee must contribute.
• This budget bill gives President Obama a blank check until he gets out of office – with unchecked authority.
  
  “The American people deserve better from their government. They deserve a budget that does more to tackle the main contributors to our national debt and places us on a sound fiscal path; not a budget that is negotiated in secret, with little to no input from their Representatives and actually increases our debt.  Debt doesn’t discriminate, it doesn’t know party affiliation, and if the establishment continues to ignore it, it will bring us all down.”