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House Republican Policy Committee Chairman and House Budget Committee member James Lankford (R-OK) issued the following statement as the nation reached the sobering milestone of an unprecedented 1,400 days—200 weeks—without a Senate-passed budget.
“Each time we reach another anniversary without a statutorily-required, Senate-passed budget, it is a sad reminder of how our federal spending continues to drift into deep debt with no plan to ever balance,” said Chairman Lankford.
“After the passage of No Budget No Pay, the Senate finally appears to be motivated to act on a budget after almost four years of stalling. Almost $5 trillion in debt has been added since the Senate took the time to even present a budget in committee.
“In the next ten years, interest on our $16.6 trillion debt alone will reach a staggering $857 billion a year, more than we spend on any individual government agency or the entire war in Afghanistan. Our nation cannot afford an annual interest payment of $857 billion. We must have an annual budget and a long-term plan to get our debt and deficit under control. The House and Senate should both develop a plan to get our budget back in balance within ten years, then work together to reconcile our plans into a long-term agenda to get us out of debt.
“Under the leadership of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, I am proud of the work the House has done to put together two responsible budget proposals in the last two years,” continued Lankford. “Senate Democrats stood on the sidelines and criticized our budget proposal without offering a single alternative of their own.
“Unfortunately the President is also late again with his budget. President Obama has been late with his budget more than any other president since the Budget Act passed in 1974. It is obvious that the issue of our time is not the priority of the White House or the Senate,” concluded Lankford.
