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Congressman Bill Posey (R-Rockledge) released the following statement regarding his vote against the debt limit deal:

“Our nation is deep in debt and plummeting deeper in the red every day. The Federal government is spending way beyond its means. The credit ratings agencies have warned that the U.S. will lose its AAA credit rating unless Washington enacts a credible, long-term plan to control spending and reduce the national debt. That is what is required.

“The last minute bill put forward today does not achieve this goal. Regardless of its enactment, the U.S. will still be at serious risk of losing its AAA credit rating. To date, the only plan introduced that passes muster for the credit rating agencies is the Cut, Cap and Balance legislation which passed the House with bipartisan support last week and is purposefully being blocked in the Senate.

“Today’s legislation includes a weakened Balanced Budget Amendment option. In my view, it makes no serious effort in bringing us closer to passing-on such a popular and necessary provision to the States for consideration. A Balanced Budget Amendment is needed to ensure that Washington's addiction to spending is broken. Washington must begin to live within its means. Somehow that principle had to be tossed-out to get the Senate and Administration on board with this deal.

“This bill grows the debt to $16.7 trillion without implementing a long-term plan to control spending. The real crisis is not the Administration’s impending arbitrary deadline to raise the limit, but the lack of a plan to ever repay this money and reverse this terrible trend of deficit spending and debt accumulation.

“Again, I thank the Speaker for his efforts in filling the leadership void and for putting ideas out on the table.”