Woodall Statement Regarding Debt Ceiling Vote

(The following is a press release issued from U.S. Representative Rob Woodall (GA 07) in response to the U.S. House agreeing on Tuesday to suspend the debt ceiling through March 15, 2015).

"I regret the President's call for a 'clean debt ceiling' that exacerbates the problem, rather than takes steps to solve the problem. We can find and pass solutions, but only if we have a willing partner in the White House and the Senate. We are on an unsustainable path of borrowing from our children and grandchildren in order to fund our excessive federal spending. We as a nation must take steps to reduce, and ultimately eliminate, this pattern before the true debt limit is reached: when we can no longer find a lender.

America must control spending and reduce our debt, and as a nation, we have an obligation to meet the financial commitments we have already made. There is no reason both goals cannot be achieved if we are willing to make the tough choices today to ensure a better tomorrow for the next generation. Kicking the can down the road is neither responsible nor effective. As then-Senator Obama stated in 2006 with regard to increasing the debt limit, we are 'shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren.  America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.' Then-Senator Obama was right to demand this leadership from President Bush, and I am right to demand leadership from President Obama."

Woodall represents the Seventh Congressional District of Georgia, which includes the majority of Gwinnett and Forsyth counties.