Michael believes we need to work together and make the tough decisions necessary to put our nation's fiscal house in order. Since his first days in the Senate in 2009, he has been leading the fight for a comprehensive, bipartisan solution to our nation's unsustainable long-term deficits.

Michael has pushed for a balanced approach that reduces the deficit and demonstrates that we are all willing to make the sacrifices necessary to cut spending while paying for the critical investments our country needs to succeed—just as our parents and grandparents did for us. That is why he voted against the eleventh-hour fiscal cliff package that was passed on New Year's Eve of 2013. That legislation—like so many other products of today’s Congress—represented the path of least resistance, rammed through without making any of the difficult choices elected leaders are supposedly sent to Washington to do. That is also why Michael fought so hard against the irresponsible tax plan in 2017 that will add nearly $2 trillion to our deficits in its first decade alone—a tax plan that completely missed the mark on what makes our economy stronger, while adding to our unsustainable fiscal burdens over the long run.

As a member of the Senate Committee on Finance, Michael has worked across the aisle on responsible, commonsense legislation to help secure our country’s fiscal future. He has pushed for policies that would reform our tax code to make it simpler and fairer, while raising the revenues necessary to finance our long-term obligations. In 2011, Michael and Republican Senator Mike Johanns rallied together 32 Republicans and 32 Democrats to support a comprehensive deficit reduction package that included discretionary spending cuts, entitlement changes, and tax reform. In 2017, Michael introduced a bill to eliminate the threat of default by ending Congress’s ability to weaponize the debt limit for extreme partisan ends.