McCaskill and other senators introduce budget cap amendment
U.S. lawmakers, including Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., have introduced a bipartisan amendment to the fiscal year 2011 budget which would place caps on the amount of defense and non-defense discretionary spending by the federal government.
The amendment, which has also been put forth by Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and Sen. John Kyl, R-Ariz., would be placed on the Senate version of the bill that would allow the U.S. Department of the Treasury to accrue more debt.
The debt ceiling for the U.S. government is now $12.39 trillion, and this legislation would raise it $14.29 trillion. According to the U.S. debt clock, the U.S. national debt is equal to each citizen owing about $40,000.
McCaskill, in a news release, said it was time to deal with the "out of control" deficit.
“Nearly all Americans have faced challenges due to this economic recession, and most are trying to tighten their belts and find ways to stretch their dollars," McCaskill said in the release. "It’s about time the federal government did the same.”
Under this legislation, the federal budget caps, which would last until 2014, would go along with the increases in the fiscal year 2010 federal budget, about 2 percent annually, according to the release. In times of emergency, these caps could be overridden by 67 votes in the Senate.
Similar five year caps were put in place in 1990. These caps played a role in balancing the federal budget four times during the 1990s, but they were allowed to expire in 2002.
