McMorris Rodgers votes to pass 'Cut, Cap and Balance' bill

Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) votes for "Cut, Cap and Balance"

Late Tuesday, the Republican-led House of Representatives passed the "Cut, Cap and Balance" bill by a near party line vote, 239 - 190.

“In 2006, then-Senator Obama voted against raising the debt ceiling - calling the rising national debt a ‘sign of leadership failure.’  Now President Obama is asking the Congress to raise the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion in order to pay for many of his expensive policy initiatives," Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) said after the vote.

"Before we ask each American family for an additional $20,000 – before we saddle every American family with an extra $20,000 in debt – we have to start cutting up those credit cards and change the way Washington spends money.  ‘Cut, Cap, and Balance’ does exactly that,” she said.

McMorris Rodgers explains the “Cut, Cap, and Balance” plan takes the following actions:

   1. Cut – It will cut spending by more than $110 billion in the next fiscal year – consistent with the Ryan budget. 

   2. Cap – It will enact spending caps to limit the amount of money the government can spend next year and well into the future.

   3. Balance - It will require the passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment.  Forty-nine states already require a balanced budget by law, and there’s no reason the federal government can’t do the same. 

An article at The Hill called the measure "ill-fated," as Senate Democrats are determined to see the measure pass, and President Obama has vowed to veto the measure if it lands on his desk.

According to The Hill, "nine Republicans — including presidential candidates Michele Bachmann (Minn.) and Ron Paul (Texas) — and five Democrats defected."

Democrats - including DNC boss Debbie Wasserman Schultz - lambasted the measure, falsely claiming it would lead to the end of Medicare.  The Hill reports:

Democrats said the Republican strategy was anything but responsible. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) assailed the GOP for “fiddling with a bill that will not pass while the flames of default lick at our heels.”

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said the GOP was trying to “manipulate the Constitution” with “an anti-democratic provision” that would make it easier to end entitlement programs like Medicare than to close tax loopholes.

GOP Presidential candidates Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul voted against the measure.

Bachmann voted against the measure partly because she says it does not address Obamacare, according to The Hill:

"We must remember that ObamaCare is the largest spending and entitlement program in our nation's history," she said. "That means, at a time when we can least afford it, President Obama added to our spending problem by the trillions. Without its repeal, we cannot have real economic reform."

Paul Ryan (R-WI) declared victory in an email, saying in part:

“The coming debt crisis is the single most predictable economic disaster in the history of this nation. Unfortunately, the White House refuses to put forth a credible plan to solve our spending problem, and Senate Democrats have not passed a budget in over 800 days. I remain hopeful that responsible leaders will work with us to advance specific solutions that uphold our solemn commitment to leave the next generation with a stronger, more prosperous nation than the one we inherited.”