News

Rep. Jones Opposes Debt Limit Hike

New Bern Sun Journal

February 04, 2010 11:34 PM
Sun Journal Staff

U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-N.C., voted on Thursday against a U.S. House bill to increase the federal debt limit.

The bill, which passed 233 to 187, now goes to President Obama.

"The people of America are crying out for fiscal sanity from Washington, D.C., and it is deeply troubling to see their demands continue to be ignored," Jones said in a news release. "We simply have to stop all this borrowing and spending."

The new limit would raise the amount the federal government can borrow from $12.4 trillion to $14.3 trillion.

Jones said in the news release that the existing federal debt already amounts to about $40,000 per American and a new limit would add $6,000 per U.S. resident to the debt.

The new limit would be the eighth increase in the last six years and the largest single increase of the debt limit in U.S. history.

Jones is the only current House member to vote against every one of the increases.