Democratic House Group Tells Speaker, "Stop the Insanity!"

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Rep. Schiff leads 58 Democrats in letter to pressure leaders on deficit spending

Nearly a quarter of the House’s Democrats wrote their leadership on Wednesday, urging them to pay more attention to reducing deficit spending.

Fifty-eight Democrats, led by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), wrote House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) to pressure them to restrain federal spending.

“Failure to put in place and properly enforce budget enforcement mechanisms that cut and restrain the growth in federal spending will only make the tough, necessary decisions harder to achieve in the future,” Schiff wrote in a letter to the leaders.

Pointing to the effects of the financial crisis in Europe spurred by high levels of debt, the group said they would demand that spending be offset by cuts elsewhere under pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) rules adopted earlier this year. This would have the effect, if the group of 58 held together, of blocking extensions of unemployment insurance and other spending programs that aren’t paid for. Democrats control 253 House seats, but would only have 195 votes for such spending without the support of these other Democrats.

“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,” they said.

“Extending critical, economic investments is no more important than paying for them,” they added. “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.”

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/108787-house-dems-pressure-leaders-on-deficit-spending