FreedomWorks Amps Up Efforts to Put a Real “Cut, Cap, Balance” Vote on Senate Agenda

WASHINGTON, DC- As the great debt ceiling debate heats up, FreedomWorks will be engaging its network of over one million activists to urge Senate Democrats and Republicans alike to put the “Cut, Cap, Balance Act (HR 2560)” up for a real vote in the Senate. The next few days will be an opportunity for Democrats to step up and commit to a responsible plan to alleviate the debt, as well as an opportunity to see which Republicans stick to their fiscally conservative principles when the going gets tough.

“The American people sent a historic 69 bold fiscal conservatives to Washington with the specific mission of getting spending under control. They want permanent change to how Washington works, which is achieved by the ‘Cut Cap and Balance Act,’” commented Matt Kibbe, President of FreedomWorks. “RINO’s beware: There will be serious consequences at the ballot box for Republicans blinking on this issue.”

The “Cut, Cap, Balance Act” is the most responsible approach to shrinking the debt and permanently changing the culture of spending in Washington. The Act would make it impossible to raise the debt limit without immediate spending cuts, enforceable spending caps, and passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution.

In the past week, the “Cut, Cap, Balance Act” passed in the House by a vote of 234-190, and was tabled in the Senate by a simple majority of 51-46. “Harry Reid’s foot-dragging towards crafting a serious solution to our $14.3 trillion in national debt is not a shocker,” commented Kibbe. “Senate Democrats haven’t even bothered to pass a budget since early 2009.”

“A lot of people are under the misconception that the ‘Cut, Cap, Balance Act’ was voted down in the Senate,” commented Dean Clancy, Legislative Counsel and Vice President of Health Care Policy for FreedomWorks. “The Act was ‘tabled,’ meaning it was simply put on ‘pause’ temporarily. Our activists’ mission in the next few days is to make CCB impossible to ignore.”

Over 35,000 FreedomWorks activists have already signed onto the Cut, Cap, Balance Pledge, and made over 5,000 calls to Congressional offices. Through the online grassroots organizing tool FreedomConnector, over 250 district office visits have been completed across the country. Over 100 tea party leaders from 40 states visited DC Senate offices to ask Senators to sign the Cut, Cap, Balance Pledge during last month’s FreedomWorks Activist Boot camp.

FreedomWorks strongly opposes the “Boehner Debt and Tax Hike Plan,” which would establish a super-committee of 12 elected legislators from the House and Senate to determine future spending cuts and tax increases to narrow the deficit.  “The breakdown of the group would have likely been 4 liberals, 4 moderates, and 4 conservatives- effectively marginalizing the Republicans in Congress who are actually committed fixing Washington’s spending problem without burdening American families with more taxes,” explained Max Pappas, FreedomWorks VP of Public Policy and Government Affairs. “Speaker Boehner is using the committee as a façade for potential tax increases down the road without having to commit to anything on paper right now while the debate is hot. So essentially, the super-committee is the tax hike.”

Standard and Poor’s is already predicting that the US credit rating is headed towards in inevitable downgrade to a AA rating at this point, down from its current AAA, regardless of a compromise by the alleged August 2nd deadline. “Missing the alleged August 2nd deadline will not be the end of the world,” added Dean Clancy. “The exact date really depends on whether the President is willing to tap certain reserves available to him, or decides to force a political crisis. On August 3rd, the U.S. will still be able to pay its creditors, Social Security checks will still go out, and Medicare and Medicaid payments will go out as usual. Republicans should take a step back and focus on crafting solutions to solve our nation’s long-term spending problem, instead of scrambling to meet a deadline made up by political alarmists.”

FreedomWorks plans to intensify its efforts to support the “Cut, Cap, Balance Act” with continued letters, emails and phone calls to House and Senate offices, district office visits, and a comprehensive earned media campaign. For more information on FreedomWorks’ efforts to support the Cut, Cap, Balance Act, please contact Jackie Bodnar at jbodnar@freedomworks.org or (202)-603-2108.

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