Cooper Supports Budget Deal

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper (TN-05) today voted for the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, a bill that averts default and lessens the blow of across-the-board spending cuts.

“Congress should stop playing games of ‘chicken’ like this: driving America too close to the fiscal cliff in order to scare voters,” Rep. Cooper said. “Nothing is more important than keeping America’s credit rating strong because that determines the financial strength of the nation.”

Cooper supported Wednesday’s agreement, but he has long sought a bipartisan debt plan that transcends imminent deadlines and tackles America’s fiscal issues.

In 2012, Cooper and former Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio) offered the only bipartisan budget on the House floor. It was based on principles outlined by the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, co-chaired by former Sen. Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles.

The Cooper-LaTourette budget would trim the deficit by more than $4 trillion over 10 years, and replace the infamous, across-the-board sequestration cuts with a comprehensive, balanced plan for deficit reduction. It would put America's debt-to-GDP ratio on a downward trajectory, eventually decreasing to 67.9 percent.

The effort was supported by major budget and fiscal watchdog groups. It was endorsed by newspapers across the country and hailed as "brave" by USA Today.

Earlier this month, Cooper reintroduced his Stop Pay for Members Act, which would have halted congressional pay if America had defaulted on the national debt.