Hayworth, Lowey Vote for Debt Limit Deal
Congresswomen Nan Hayworth (R-19) and Nita Lowey (D-18) both voted for the Budget Control Act of 2011, which approved raising the nation’s debt ceiling while cutting as much as $2.4 trillion in spending over the next decade. Their sentiments on the bill, which passed the House 269-161, were quite different.
Lowey saw the vote as the lesser of two evils, saying she didn’t favor the cuts but feared the alternative was a national default that would devastate the country’s economy.
“It is outrageous that the need to prevent a default on the federal debt enabled ideologues to push our economy to the brink of another depression,” Lowey said in a statement. “Painful cuts to health, education, and infrastructure priorities will make it harder – not easier – to create jobs and grow the economy. However, default would have even more catastrophic consequences for Americans’ jobs, interest rates, retirement and investments, and economic security.”
Hayworth, on the other hand, called the cuts a first step towards getting the economy back on track.
“This is about jobs and a strong, healthy economy. We’ve reached a reasonable consensus that will prevent default, but we need to do much more,” she said in a press release. “I’m going to continue to do all I can to help our hardworking taxpayers, families, the middle-class and businesses – large and small. We will build on what this bill accomplishes. To do that we need all Americans to hold the government accountable for what it spends just as we balance budgets in our own families.”
Lowey said she was pleased the deal didn’t slash Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.