Colorado Politics

Colorado Republicans Lauren Boebert, Ken Buck speak out against debt ceiling bill

Two Republican lawmakers from Colorado said Tuesday they will oppose a deal to raise the federal debt ceiling as the GOP-controlled House moved toward a vote on the legislation.

Calling the compromise negotiated between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden a “bad deal,” U.S. Rep. Ken Buck said it’s possible a majority of House Republicans will vote against the bill, though the Windsor Republican said that it likely has enough support from Democrats to pass in an expected vote Wednesday night.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert said she’s a “no” vote on the legislation in its current form, labeling it a “blank check” for the Biden administration.

“Tomorrow’s bill is a bunch of fake news and fake talking points that will do nothing to rein in out of control federal spending,” the Rifle Republican said during a press conference with fellow members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.

“If every Republican voted the way they campaigned, they would vote against tomorrow’s bad deal, because this is the very thing we campaigned to put an end to,” she added.

The bill, which has members of both parties fuming, would lift the limit on U.S. government borrowing until Jan. 1, 2025, and reduces federal deficits by $1.5 trillion over the next decade, according to an analysis released late Tuesday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Republicans like Buck and Boebert say the deal doesn’t go far enough to rein in federal spending, while some Democrats complain that restrictions on domestic spending put pressure on Americans who can least afford it.

U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, D-Aurora, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday afternoon that he isn’t thrilled about the deal but will likely support it.

Crow noted that he shares qualms expressed by members of the House Democrats’ more progressive wing over additional work requirements for some recipients of federal assistance, “because they don’t really work, they’re not effective and they’re not grounded in reality and good policy.”

“But sometimes legislating is choosing between the least great options,” Crow continued. What I do know for sure is we cannot default on our national debt, throw our country into a recession, lose hundreds of thousands of job and, for the first time in our nation’s history, undermine the full faith and credit of our government. So there are things in this bill I’m not happy with, there are things in this bill I am fairly happy with, but we have to get this done.”

Buck, one of a handful of House Republicans who have never voted to raise the debt ceiling, said the $35 trillion in federal debt that could accumulate under the bill is “unsustainable.”

“We’ve got to figure out a way to deal with our debt, and that’s not through these kind of negotiations,” he told CNBC host Brian Sullivan in an appearance on the cable network’s “Last Call” show Tuesday evening.

Buck said both parties bear responsibility for running up the debt.

“This is a bipartisan bankruptcy,” he said. “I’m not blaming the Democrats; I’m not blaming the Republicans. Republicans put spending controls on the Obama administration, and as soon as the Trump administration came in, they blew right through those spending controls. I am by no means making this a partisan issue. … But the fear that the American people have is that we’re spending too much money.”

U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, the third Republican member of the state’s House delegation, has yet to indicate his position on the legislation. A spokeswoman told Colorado Politics on Tuesday that the Colorado Springs lawmaker was “currently deliberating” on the matter.

U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen suggested that she’s leaning toward supporting the vote in a statement to Colorado Politics.

“I’m deeply concerned that Republicans were willing to hold our economy hostage and threaten default, but am grateful that President Biden ultimately found a path forward,” the Lakewood Democrat said in a text message. “We need both long-term solutions to make sure a crisis like this cannot happen again, as well as immediate action from Congress to pass this deal.”

Added Pettersen: “Defaulting on our debt would have catastrophic impacts on our economy, national security, and would result in the loss of more than 10,000 jobs in Colorado alone. The bill is far from perfect, and I’m still looking into all the details, but to avoid the U.S. economy collapsing and endangering millions of jobs, retirement benefits, and critical programs like Social Security and Medicaid – we have to move forward with the deal we can get.”

Boebert quoted from former President Donald Trump’s “The Art of the Deal” Tuesday morning in a social media post.

“‘The worst thing you can possibly do in a deal is seem desperate to make it,'” she tweeted. “‘That makes the other guy smell blood, and then you’re dead.'”

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., speaks alongside fellow members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, about the debt limit deal during a news conference on Tuesday on Capitol Hill in Washington.
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