Washington, D.C.- Senator Ron Johnson (WI) today announced that he is an original cosponsor of Senator Pat Toomey’s (PA) Balanced Budget Proposal:

 “The reason I came to Washington is that we are bankrupting America. Watching Washington from afar, I knew that the process in Washington was broken. And in the last four months, nothing has happened that changes my view.

 “Evidence of that is the fact the Democrat-controlled Congress did not even pass a budget for the last fiscal year.  They have already missed the date set out in law for submitting a budget for 2012.

 “Certainly as a manufacturer, I realize that if you are going to produce any product – in this case a budget – you need a process that works, and one that is in control. We do not have one.

 “We also need a willing partner. Unfortunately we don’t have that. Evidence of that is the fact that Congressional Democrats were only willing to cut $4 billion from a deficit of 1,650 billion dollars. This president has shown no leadership, either. His 10-year budget would increase our deficit by $13 trillion.

 “The folks on the other side of the aisle simply aren’t being serious. From my standpoint, if we are really going to get our arms around this problem, and start addressing our fiscal situation, it’s going to require a couple of steps.

“The first step should be to establish hard spending caps to instill fiscal discipline, and to force Washington to prioritize spending.  That’s why a proposal like Senator Toomey’s is so important.

“I am supporting this budget because it is a serious proposal that shows that balancing the budget is possible, and everything needs to be on the table. It’s not going to be easy, but it is possible. We should start acting now.”

###