Wednesday, March 25, 2026 |
Photo – Senator John Barrasso – Bigfoot99 file photo
In Washington, D.C., Wyoming’s two senators have teamed up to introduce legislation to rein in liberal spending.
Republican Senators John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis have introduced the Dollar-for-Dollar Deficit Reduction Act. The legislation would require any increase or suspension of the debt limit to be balanced by equal or greater spending cuts over the next 10 years.
This is not the first rodeo for this piece of legislation. Its history goes back to at least the 114th Congress in 2015. It has met stiff resistance in the past, including in 2017, 2019 and again in 2023 when Senator Barrasso introduced a different version of the bill.
As of now, these various bills addressing congressional spending remain in committee and have not advanced to a vote. Spending has increased.
In a statement this week, Senator Barrasso said, “Governing responsibly begins with budgeting responsibly. This legislation will help stop the Democrats’ out-of-control spending spree and put us back onto the path of financial stability.”
Senator Lummis put the matter simply. “Wyoming families don’t get to spend money they don’t have, and neither should Washington,” said the senator.
The Dollar-for-Dollar Deficit Reduction Act specifically:
- Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to provide a warning when the United States is 60 days from reaching the debt limit, absent the implementation of extraordinary measures.
- Requires the White House to submit savings recommendations from the President equal to the amount of the proposed debt limit increase.
- Both chambers of Congress would not be in order to consider any bill, resolution, amendment, motion, or conference report that increases the statutory debt limit unless the bill contains net spending reductions over a 10-year period equal to the amount of the debt limit increase.
