Congressman Canseco's Statement on S&P's Downgrade of the United States Credit Rating

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 5th, 2011

Contact:  Valentina Weis
(202) 225-4511 or Valentina.Weis@mail.house.gov

Congressman Canseco’s Statement on S&P’s Downgrade of the United States Credit Rating

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Francisco “Quico” Canseco, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, released the following statement in reaction to S&P’s downgrade of the United States Credit Rating from AAA to AA+:

“Tonight's announcement by S&P is the very unfortunate consequence of our nation's spending-driven debt crisis. Weeks ago, S&P warned that if the federal government did not reduce the deficit by approximately $4 trillion, a downgrade was possible. Washington must face these facts and must address the biggest drivers of our debt, which are mandatory spending programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare.

"Instead of solving our fiscal crisis, Washington liberals have stubbornly argued for job-crushing tax increases and smoke and mirrors spending cuts. At every turn, they have blocked legislative solutions put forth by the House.

"To deal with our spending-driven debt crisis, the House of Representatives passed a landmark budget that took the drivers of our debt head on. We sought to reform and strengthen important programs like Medicare for future generations. We sought to cut $5.8 trillion in spending -- this legislation is still sitting at the door of the US Senate.

"For decades, economic and fiscal experts have warned us that this was the most predictable economic crisis our nation would face. Yet, Washington ignored these warnings for decades and instead of changing direction, over the past 2 years, embarked on a spending binge, stepping on the accelerator hurling us much faster off a fiscal cliff.

"We did not get into this situation overnight. We will not get out of it overnight. We must make tough choices. If we don't take concrete actions today to put our nation on a fiscally sustainable path we will be the first generation to leave a lesser America for our children and grandchildren,” concluded Congressman Canseco.

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