Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following statement Wednesday regarding the President’s request to increase the debt limit and the importance of passing a Balanced Budget Amendment:

“Yesterday morning, I came to the floor to announce my conclusion that, despite his repeated claims to the contrary, the President has no real intention of cutting spending or dealing with our deficits and debt.

“It had been my fervent hope that the President could be persuaded to view the upcoming debt limit vote as an opportunity to change direction, to cut spending and debt, and to preserve entitlement programs.

“But those hopes evaporated when the President began to insist in recent weeks that he would only consider spending cuts later if Republicans agreed now to one of the biggest tax hikes in history.  Republicans refused to be drawn into this legislative trap.

“And when Democrats proposed a smaller plan that they claimed, without any details, amounted to more than a trillion dollars in cuts, well, we refused to go along again — because we knew that it didn’t.

“We refused to pretend that a bad deal was a good one.

“Our bottom line was this: The White House would have to prove that the cuts it was claiming to support were real and enforceable before Republicans would sign off on any plan to endorse them.  As it turned out, our skepticism was well founded.

“Earlier this week, I asked an administration official point blank what the cuts they were proposing as part of their so-called bipartisan deal would amount to next year. He said they amounted to about $2 billion, total. Washington will borrow $4 billion dollars today alone. Two billion dollars when Washington borrows more than that every day.

“This is what they were planning to spin as more than $1 trillion over 10 years.

“It was at that point that I realized the White House simply was not serious about cutting spending or debt. The only thing they were serious about was putting together a plan that appeared serious but wasn’t.

“And they wanted Republicans to go along with it.

“Well, we’re not going to play that game.

“In the end, the White House gave us three choices in exchange for a vote to increase the debt limit:  A massive tax hike, smoke and mirrors, or default. And none of these options is acceptable.

“So yesterday, I proposed a possible fourth option.

“A last resort if the President continues to shirk his duty to do something about our dire fiscal situation.

“If the White House continues to insist on either tax hikes or default, then we’d send legislation to the President that requires him to propose spending cuts greater than the debt limit increase he requests. Make the President show in black and white the specific cuts he claims to support. If he refuses, he’ll have to raise the debt limit on his own.

“But he’s not going to get Republicans to go along with it. That way the President can’t pretend to support cuts when he doesn’t. He’s forced to put up.  Now, I understand the reluctance people have in concluding that a serious solution isn’t going to happen.  

“I hope I’m wrong. The idea of not doing something serious about the debt before August sickens me.  

“Like most Americans, I previously didn’t believe anyone in this country could seriously deny the need to rein in government spending.

“Like most Americans, I previously didn’t believe anyone could be so short-sighted as to propose massive tax hikes in a weakened economy.  

“Like all of you, I didn’t think even the most liberal amongst us would go to such lengths to protect the expansion of government.  

“I’m sorry to report there are people who believe all of those things, and they currently reside at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

“But Republicans refuse to let the President use the threat of a debt-limit deadline to get us to cave on tax increases or on phony spending cuts that future Congresses could just as easily reverse with a single vote.

“We’re not gambling our nation’s fiscal future on the promise of spending cuts tomorrow for tax hikes today.

“So it’s time to change the conversation altogether.  It’s time to refocus this debate on the kind of real cuts and debt reduction Americans are demanding of us.  

“It’s time to show that there are two very different visions about our nation’s future at work here.

“So over the next several days, Republicans will redouble our efforts to avoid all four scenarios.

“Americans don’t want tax hikes.

“They don’t want phony spending cuts.

“They don’t want a debt disapproval plan.

“And they don’t want us to default on our debts.

“They want real cuts and real reforms now.  And that’s why Republicans will spend the next two weeks fighting for the one thing that will ensure that Washington gets its house in order, and forces future Congresses to live within their means.

“The time has come for a Balanced Budget Amendment that forces Washington to balance its books.

“If these debt negotiations have convinced us of anything, it’s that we can’t leave it to politicians in Washington to make the difficult decisions they need to get our fiscal house in order.

“The Balanced Budget Amendment will do that for them.

“Now is the moment.

“No more games. No more gimmicks.

“The Constitution must be amended to keep the government in check.

“We’ve tried persuasion. We’ve tried negotiations. We’ve tried elections. Nothing has worked.

“If the President won't do something about the debt, we'll go around him and take it to the American people.

“We’ll have a real debate.

“Those who support endless spending and debt will vote against it.

“It’s time we all stand up to be counted.”