GOP Congressmen: Downgrade could have been avoided

Standard & Poor’s Friday decision to lower the nation’s bond rating “didn’t have to happen,” a Georgia Congressman said.

“Instead of addressing the out-of-control spending which has come to pervade Washington, the President chose to ignore the matter,” U.S. Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., said in a statement. “He proposed a budget which never put us on a course for fiscal sustainability, and then continued to advocate for a ‘balanced approach’ to raise taxes on job creators and derail a weak economy.

“Meanwhile, the administration’s allies in the Senate sat on their hands for more than two years, never proposing a plan to get our fiscal house in order,” Price added.

U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., said with cuts to federal spending and “a balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution, we can answer the call for leadership necessary to face our fiscal challenges.

“For the first time in history, the credit rating of the United States has been downgraded,” Kingston said in a statement. “This confirms my belief that the debt ceiling increase signed into law this week does not go far enough to change the nation’s fiscal trajectory. Congress should immediately reconvene to take up the fundamental reforms necessary to right the ship and lay the groundwork for a more stable and secure future for our children and grandchildren.”