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Tim Scott on Budget & Economy

 

 


Turn off the Washington spigot of Bidenomics

Q: What have you done to rein in the increasing size of government?

SEN. TIM SCOTT: Over the last several years I've had an opportunity to vote against spending package after spending package after spending package. What we also need to understand is that Joe Biden's Bidenomics has led to the loss of $10,000 of spending power for the average family. When you see 16% inflation, your gas is up 40%. Your food is up 20%. Your electricity is up 20%. We can stop that by turning the spigot off at Washington, sending the money back to the states, and allowing the decisions to be made at their own houses. I helped write the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017. We cut taxes for single moms by 70%, for dual households by 60%, returning to the average family $4,000. If you don't send it to Washington, we can't spend it. That's good news for the American people.

Source: Fox News 2023 Republican primary debate in Milwaukee , Aug 23, 2023

Rein in the left's out-of-control spending, cut taxes

Source: 2024 Presidential campaign website VoteTimScott.com , May 22, 2023

Infrastructure plan is liberal wish-list of waste

Another issue that should unite us is infrastructure. Republicans support everything you think of when you think of 'infrastructure.' Roads, bridges, ports, airports, waterways, high-speed broadband--we're all in! Democrats want a partisan wish list. They won't even build bridges to build bridges! Less than 6% of the President's plan goes to roads and bridges. It's a liberal wish-list of Big Government waste... plus the biggest job-killing tax hikes in a generation.
Source: Republican response to the 2021 State of the Union address , Apr 28, 2021

Free enterprise is the key to national prosperity

Question topic: Free enterprise and the right to private property turn mankind's natural self interest into the fairest and most productive economic system there is, and are the key to national prosperity.

Scott: Agree

Source: Faith2Action iVoterGuide on 2014 South Carolina Senate race , Sep 30, 2014

Address fiscal cliff with sequestration & tax cut extension

Q: Let's talk about the fiscal cliff. What happens now?

SCOTT: The House has acted already. The House passed sequestration on four occasions. We've extended all the tax cuts. And now we wait for a response from the other side. We stand prepared to be here in Washington whenever the president or the Senate has a proposal that we can take and act on.

Q: It seems like both sides seem to be, "Well, we're waiting for them." But the fact is nothing ever gets done. Do you think that this Congress will let us go over this so-called fiscal cliff?

SCOTT: That's a really good question. And that's one of the reasons why I'm pretty excited about the fact that we have already acted. We acted several months ago to extend the tax cuts for all Americans. We don't have to go over the cliff. There is a piece of legislation that has passed the House, which is good news.What we haven't seen come out of the Senate yet is a single piece of legislation that addresses the crisis.

Source: CBS "Face the Nation" on 2014 South Carolina Senate race , Dec 23, 2012

Demand a Balanced Budget amendment.

Scott signed the Contract From America

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.

Source: The Contract From America 10-CFA03 on Jul 8, 2010

Limit federal spending growth to per-capita inflation rate.

Scott signed the Contract From America

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.

Source: The Contract From America 10-CFA06 on Jul 8, 2010

Proposing a balanced budget amendment to the US Constitution.

Scott signed Balanced Budget Amendment

RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (2/3rds of each House concurring therein), That the article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of 3/4ths of the several States within 7 years after the date of its submission for ratification.

This article shall take effect beginning with the later of the second fiscal year beginning after its ratification or the first fiscal year beginning after December 31, 2016.

Source: H.J.Res.2 11-HJRES2 on Jan 5, 2011

Supports the Cut-Cap-and-Balance Pledge.

Scott signed the Cut-Cap-and-Balance Pledge to limit government

[The Cut-Cap-and-Balance Pledge is sponsored by a coalition of several hundred Tea Party, limited-government, and conservative organizations].

Despite our nation`s staggering $14.4 trillion debt, there are many Members of the U.S. House and Senate who want to raise our nation`s debt limit without making permanent reforms in our fiscal policies. We believe that this is a fiscally irresponsible position that would place America on the Road to Ruin. At the same time, we believe that the current debate over raising the debt limit provides a historic opportunity to focus public attention, and then public policy, on a path to a balanced budget and paying down our debt.

We believe that the `Cut, Cap, Balance` plan for substantial spending cuts in FY 2012, a statutory spending cap, and Congressional passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution is the minimum necessary precondition to raising the debt limit. The ultimate goal is to get us back to a point where increases in the debt limit are no longer necessary. If you agree, take the Cut, Cap, Balance Pledge!

    I pledge to urge my Senators and Member of the House of Representatives to oppose any debt limit increase unless all three of the following conditions have been met:
  1. Cut: Substantial cuts in spending that will reduce the deficit next year and thereafter.
  2. Cap: Enforceable spending caps that will put federal spending on a path to a balanced budget.
  3. Balance: Congressional passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- but only if it includes both a spending limitation and a super-majority for raising taxes, in addition to balancing revenues and expenses.
Source: Cut-Cap-and-Balance Pledge 12-CCB on Jan 1, 2012

Disapprove of increasing the debt limit.

Scott co-sponsored Joint Resolution on Debt Limit

Congressional Summary:JOINT RESOLUTION: Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives: That Congress disapproves of the President`s exercise of authority to increase the debt limit, as submitted on Jan. 12, 2012.

Congressional Vote:Vote #4 in the House: 239 Yeas; 176 Nays; Senate declined to vote on the Resolution.

OnTheIssues Explanation: On Jan. 12, 2012, Pres. Obama notified Congress of his intent to raise the nation`s debt ceiling by $1.2 trillion, two weeks after he had postponed the request to give lawmakers more time to consider the action. Congress then had 15 days to say no before the debt ceiling is automatically raised from $15.2 trillion to $16.4 trillion. Hence the debt ceiling was increased.

In Aug. 2011, the US government was nearly shut down by an impasse over raising the debt ceiling; under an agreement reached then, the President could raise the debt limit in three increments while also implementing $2.4 trillion in budget cuts. The agreement also gave Congress the option of voting to block each of the debt-ceiling increases by passing a `resolution of disapproval.` The House disapproved; the Senate, by declining to vote in the 15-day window, killed the Resolution. Even if the resolution were passed, Pres. Obama could veto it; which could be overridden by a 2/3 majority in the House and Senate. The House vote only had 57% approval, not enough for the 67% override requirement, so the Senate vote became moot. The same set of actions occurred in Sept. 2011 for the first debt ceiling increase.

Source: HJRes.98/SJRes34 12-HJR98 on Jan 13, 2012

Audit the Federal Reserve & its actions on mortgage loans.

Scott co-sponsored Federal Reserve Transparency Act

The Federal Reserve Transparency Act directs: