releases: https://web.archive.org/web/20140228104300/http://brooks.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=25&itemid=1095

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Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press

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url	title	date	year	month	party	chamber	state	member_name	bioguide_id	domain	scraper	source	date_source	text	has_text	collected_at	updated_at
https://web.archive.org/web/20140228104300/http://brooks.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=25&itemid=1095	Brooks Opposes Additional $60 Billion Debt Increase	2013-12-13	2013	2013-12	Republican	House	AL	Mo Brooks	B001274	web.archive.org			legacy	Washington, D.C. –Congressman Mo Brooks (AL-5) concurred with the views of Alabama Senators Richard Shelby 1 and Jeff Sessions 2 and voted against the Murray-Ryan spending bill that busts spending cap agreements and worsens America’s projected two-year $1.5 trillion deficit by another $60 billion. Congressman Brooks stated, “While parts of the Murray-Ryan spending deal are attractive, its two-year effects are financially irresponsible. America suffers from a $17 trillion debt and five years of deficits averaging more than $1 trillion/year. Interest on America’s debt exceeds $250 billion/year and is projected by the CBO to reach $800 billion/year within a decade, thus jeopardizing our ability to pay for national security, Social Security, and every other federal program. Over the next two years, America’s projected deficit approximates $1.5 trillion. The Murray-Ryan spending deal piles another $60 billion in debt onto an already bad deficit situation, making America’s finances worse, not better. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen warns that debt is our greatest national security threat. America’s Comptroller General Gene Dodaro warns that America’s deficit and debt path is ‘unsustainable’. Prudence and common sense dictate that America heed these warnings and act responsibly. The Murray-Ryan spending deal does neither and is the wrong path to follow.” Congressman Brooks concluded, “The financially irresponsible policies that drove Detroit into bankruptcy run wild in Washington. America can and must do better. For example, the Murray-Ryan spending bill could be fully funded without borrowing a dime if Washington instead cut tens of billions/year in foreign aid, stopped giving illegal aliens more than $4 billion/year in fraudulent tax refunds,3 and stopped making as much as $14 billion/year in unemployment compensation overpayments.4 ” Other information about the Murray-Ryan spending deal: It unfairly singles out retired military personnel for disproportionate COLA retirement cuts that no other federal employees must accept. Military personnel who have risked their lives serving America for twenty years should be treated the best, not the worst. The Veterans of Foreign Wars, Marine Corps League, Association of the U.S. Navy, AMVETS, Gold Star Wives, Military Order of the Purple Heart, National Assoc. for Uniformed Services, Vietnam Veterans of America, National Guard Assoc. of the U.S., and 18 other veterans organizations oppose the Murray-Ryan spending deal. It rescinds all funds appropriated for replenishment of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, thus cutting America’s oil reserves and jeopardizing our economy and country, should America face another 1973-style oil embargo. It raises taxes that hurt America’s economy and undermine jobs. For example, it raises $1.2 billion/year in taxes on air travel alone, costing air travel jobs. It raises $790 million/year in taxes on pension benefit plans, thereby decreasing pension funds available for payment to America’s retirees. 1 Senator Richard Shelby is the ranking member on the Senate Appropriations Committee. 2 Senator Jeff Sessions is the ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee and served on the conference committee that drafted the Murray-Ryan spending deal (which was presented to Congress despite the absence of a concurring vote by the conference committee). ###	1	2026-03-30T12:14:52Z	2026-03-30T12:14:52Z