Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Rep. John Carter (R-Texas) August 2019 Porker of the Month for voting for the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019 (BBA), which saddles taxpayers with more spending and debt.
The U.S. is currently $22 trillion in debt. The BBA is projected to add approximately $1.7 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years. It will also end the automatic spending cuts established by the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA). The BBA passed the House by a vote of 284 to 149, and the Senate by a vote of 67 to 28.  President Trump signed the bill into law on Friday, August 2, 2019.
Rep. Carter was a huge proponent of the budget deal, claiming it “helps everybody.â€Â He justified it politically by saying that the BBA helps “the majority – not having to deal with that at election time.â€Â How convenient for him and sad for taxpayers. Among the many problems with the budget deal, is the suspension of the limit on how much new debt the U.S. will accumulate between now and July 31, 2021.  It will raise spending caps by $322 billion over the next two years.  Sen. Rand Paul called output supporters of the BBA, like Rep. Carter, for having “no understanding and no sympathy for the burden of debt they are leaving the taxpayers, the young, the next generation, and the future of our country.â€
CAGW President Tom Schatz said, “Rep. Carter might think that the Bipartisan Budget Act will somehow help taxpayers get out from under the country’s crushing debt, but the deal would exacerbate the problem. Fiscal conservatives should be outraged at every legislator who voted for this bill.  Passing the BBA is disastrous to the nation’s fiscal sovereignty and the taxpayers.â€
Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government. For more than two decades, Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers and government officials who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.
