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Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor Monday regarding the need to reduce Washington spending:

“Let me start by welcoming everyone back from the recess — it’s good to be back.

“Time away from Washington is an opportunity to step back and to measure the priorities of party against those of the people who sent us here, to make sure they’re well aligned.

“And as the two parties reengage this week in a debate about our nation’s finances, it’s vital that we focus not on mere partisan advantage but on what’s right for the country.

“When it comes to the two choices before us — of either maintaining an unsustainable status quo on spending, or to start cutting spending — the choice couldn’t be more clear.

“This morning’s news brought word that a 47-member panel of some of the nation’s top business economists view government overspending as the top threat to our economy. 

“In other words, a majority of these experts think that Washington’s inability to live within its means is the single greatest threat to our nation’s economic future.

“This isn’t a groundbreaking observation.

“Americans have been telling lawmakers for two years that business as usual simply will not cut it anymore. They want us to get our fiscal house in order and to start to create the right conditions for private sector job growth.

“But today's news is further confirmation of the stakes in the debate over spending — and that Democrats in Congress need to rethink the approach they’ve taken up to now.

“The message from the November elections is clear: stop spending money we don't have. Yet Democrat leaders persist in defending budgets that do just that well into the future.

“Earlier this month the President unveiled a 10-year budget for the government.

“At no point in this 10-year projection would the government spend less than it takes in. It doesn’t even try.

“Just look at the estimates for this year alone.

“Unless we start to cut this year’s projected spending, Washington will spend more than one and a half trillion dollars more than it takes in, about $350 billion more in red ink than last year.

“Think about that. That’s a $350 billion dollar increase in deficit spending over last year — after an election in which the voters unambiguously said they want us to cut spending and to stop adding debt.

“And next year, Democrats in Congress want to do it again.

“Once again, they plan to spend more than a trillion dollars more than we take in.

“Same pattern the year after that. They want to spend hundreds of billions of dollars more than we take in. And on and on and on.

“All of this overspending, of course, just adds to our overall national debt.

“And when you add it all up, the numbers are staggering.

“As a result of Democrat budgets, the federal debt just five years from now is expected to exceed $20 trillion dollars. Interest payments alone on that debt will exceed half a trillion dollars a year.

“Talk about a disconnect.

“The American people have spent the last two years trying to get their own fiscal houses in order. Millions have lost their jobs. Millions more have lost their homes.

“Meanwhile, what have Democrats in Washington been up to?

“On the day the President was sworn into office, the national debt was $10.6 trillion.

“In the 25 months since, it’s increased by about $3.5 trillion. 

“And despite a national uprising over this profligacy and an election that represented a wholesale repudiation of it, here’s the President’s response: spend more.

“He calls it investments.

“What about Democrat leaders in Congress? Are they reading the writing on the wall?

“Well, until this past weekend they insisted they wouldn’t agree to cut a dime in spending.

“Rather than look for ways that the two parties can work together to rein in spending, they looked for ways to marginalize those who are working hard to come up with ways to do it. They called anybody who wanted to cut a dime in spending an extremist.

“I’ll tell you what’s extreme: $20 trillion dollars in debt is extreme.

“Half a trillion dollars in interest payments a year is extreme.

“Refusing to agree to even try to live within your means is extreme.

“Tomorrow, the House will have a vote on a two-week spending bill.

“This bill represents an effort to change the culture in Washington.

“It says let’s start to change the mentality around here.

“Let’s find $4 billion that all of us agree we can cut, and cut it.  

“And continue from that good start.

“Democrat leaders in Congress resisted even this up until a few days ago.

“Now they have started to suggest they might be willing to agree to it.

“This is progress.

“This week, Democrats will have an opportunity to show that they’ve gotten the message.

“They can show they agree the time has come to change the status quo.

“Less spending. Lower debt. Reining in the size and scope of government.

“That’s what needed.

“That’s how we will create the conditions for private-sector job growth.

“Democrat leaders in Congress have tried record spending and deficits, and what has it gotten us? More than three trillion dollars more in debt and three million more jobs lost.

“Democrats have an opportunity this week to show they get it. They have an opportunity to show that the status quo on spending and debt is no longer an option. To turn a corner.

“A lot depends on how they respond to that opportunity.

“Will they continue to see what they can get away with?

“Or will they finally concede that the old way of doing business has to end?”