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Robert Pittenger on Budget & Economy

Demand a Balanced Budget amendment.

The Contract from America, clause 3. Demand a Balanced Budget:

Begin the Constitutional amendment process to require a balanced budget with a two-thirds majority needed for any tax hike.

Limit federal spending growth to per-capita inflation rate.

The Contract from America, clause 6. End Runaway Government Spending:

Impose a statutory cap limiting the annual growth in total federal spending to the sum of the inflation rate plus the percentage of population growth.

Opposes federal stimulus spending.

Project Vote Smart infers candidate issue stances on key topics by summarizing public speeches and public statements. Congressional candidates are given the opportunity to respond in detail; about 11% did so in the 2012 races.

Project Vote Smart summarizes candidate stances on the following topic: 'Economy: Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?'

Prioritize critical spending in case debt limit reached.

The Prioritize Spending Act requires amounts necessary for incurred federal obligations, in the event that the public debt reaches the statutory limit, to be made available to certain obligations, in prioritized order, before all other obligations. Prioritizes such obligations in the following descending order:

1. amounts necessary to carry out the authority of the Department of the Treasury to pay with legal tender the principal and interest on public debt;
2. amounts to provide pay to members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, including their active reserve components;
3. amounts certified as necessary to carry out vital national security priorities;
4. amounts necessary to carry out Social Security monthly old-age, survivors', and disability insurance benefits; and
5. amounts necessary to make payments under the Medicare program.