Washington, D.C. - Senator Ron Johnson (WI) released the following statement regarding his vote against the conference report to accompany H.R. 2055, legislation to fund the federal government through the remainder of fiscal year 2012:

“The budgeting process for the Federal government is horribly broken.  The Democrat-controlled Senate has refused to fulfill its legal obligation by failing to pass a budget in over 2 years (962 days and counting).  The Omnibus bill that I voted against today is just the latest example of Washington’s business as usual.  Business as usual is bankrupting our nation.

“The bill is 1219 pages long, and was available for review only 58 hours before the Senate voted on it.  It does not begin to address our spending problem or our serious fiscal challenges. It will still produce a deficit that could exceed $1 trillion for the fourth year in a row.

“My ‘NO’ vote is a vote against the broken process, as well as the continuation of massive deficit spending.  Washington is growing our national debt faster than our economy is growing.  That is reckless and irresponsible.  It mortgages our children’s future.  If we don’t begin to seriously address our fiscal situation, we face a day when our creditors will do it for us – in a process that will be far more painful than had we acted sooner.  The time to act is now. Time is running out.”

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