Bishop, Blue Dogs Growl at Speaker's Spending

Washington, DC – Congressman Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (GA-2) has signed on to a letter, with fifty-eight (58) other members of the Democratic Caucus – mostly Blue Dogs, urging Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to address federal deficit spending. The 59 Members pledged to reduce spending and pay for Congressional priorities, present and future.

“I have grown increasingly concerned with the growing deficit,” said Congressman Bishop. “My colleagues and I are taking action to reduce the deficit while still stimulating our economy. We can do both, but Washington must be more fiscally conservative! While I support initiatives such as the Stimulus bill, my constituents and I want federal funds to be spent responsibly, and I feel it is time to curb excess spending and pay for the programs we have already set in place.”

The letter, dated July 14, encourages deficit reduction, stresses the importance of paying for investments, and calls for fiscal responsibility with federal funds. An excerpt from the letter follows:

“We recognize and understand the need for the emergency designation as narrowly defined in the statutory PAYGO law recently passed by the House and signed into law by President Obama. However, we have made a commitment to pay for our priorities. It is critical that we uphold our efforts to restore fiscal discipline to the federal government by not using this tool for anything other than it is intended – a true, unforeseen emergency.

Extending critical, economic investments is no more important than paying for them. America is facing a debt crisis that is threatening to undermine our economic and national security. We can no longer afford to exacerbate the problem because the decisions about how to pay for what we spend are getting harder.”

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