WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Senator Pat Roberts today voted to condemn the President’s disregard for the nation’s fiscal security with his suspension of the debt limit.

“Today, we face a mountain of debt due to this Administration’s out of control spending and downright refusal to have a serious conversation about our long term liabilities,” Roberts said. “In the past, the debt limit debate was an essential tool used to force those on both sides of the aisle to have a serious discussion about our nation’s fiscal standing and ways to strengthen it. Unfortunately, time and again with this Administration this opportunity has been ignored.”

Roberts voted in favor of S. J. Res. 26, a resolution to disapprove of the President’s exercise of authority to suspend the debt limit.      

Roberts continued, “I will not vote to approve an increase of the debt ceiling without an agreement to balance our budget, to rein in long term spending, or to slash our deficits and reduce the financial burden on our kids and grandkids.”

Earlier this month, Roberts voted against legislation that raised the debt ceiling without serious spending cuts or structural reforms to long term debt obligations.   

Earlier this year, emphasizing his belief that the debt limit debate is essential to cutting spending, as his first legislative effort in the new 113th Congress, Senator Roberts introduced a Sense of the Senate Resolution to affirm that Congress holds the sole authority to borrow money on the credit of the United States and cannot cede this power to the President. At issue were statements, by the President and his Administration, making it quite clear they would like the unilateral power to raise the Nation’s debt ceiling without the required, and often politically difficult, vote in Congress.

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