JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – With the June 5 deadline looming, the bill to suspend the debt ceiling and limit spending easily passed the House, and it’s now up to the Senate to avoid a funding crunch.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that the U.S. is expected to run out of cash and won’t be able to meet its financial obligations if Congress doesn’t raise or suspend the debt limit by that June 5 deadline.
While Senate leadership says they are confident they have the votes to pass the measure by Friday night, not all members of the Senate are on board. That includes Florida GOP Sen. Rick Scott, who told News4JAX he plans to vote against the measure.
“This bill is not going to reduce inflation,” Scott said during an interview Thursday on The Morning Show. “As a matter of fact, it’s going to take the national debt from $31 trillion to $35 trillion. We’re going to borrow money to pay the interest on our federal debt.
“Now, when you have a child that is spending too much money, are you happy when they get another loan or are you happy when they stop wasting their money?” Scott said. “We’ve got to get to fiscal sanity.”
To achieve that “fiscal sanity,” Scott wants more cuts to domestic discretionary spending and is calling for amendments to the measure to, as he says, improve the bill.
“I want to get to a process where we get to in one day or two or three or five years, where we get to a balanced budget,” Scott said. “I think we have to go back to the drawing board and say to ourselves how do we start making tough choices? All families do that.”
Scott said “our treasury has plenty of revenues to pay” when asked if his “fiscal sanity” plan needs to be accomplished even at the risk of default.
“And, by the way, why do they wait until the last second to do this?” Scott asked. “,And why cram a bill down our throats that is not going to do what has to happen?”
If the Senate adds amendments to the measure it would have to go back to the House for another vote. It should also be noted that, in addition to Scott, GOP Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky signaled their opposition to the bill.