Washington, D.C.—Today, Rep. Mike Bost (IL-12) voted for the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (H.R. 1314), which protects our economy from a dangerous debt default, strengthens our national security, rolls back onerous Obamacare mandates, and rejects tax increases proposed by the Obama Administration.

“While this agreement does not go as far as some of us may have wanted, it does include important reforms and averts a debt default that could have crippled Southern Illinois’ economy,” said Rep. Bost.  “This legislation includes much-needed funding for our troops, protects seniors from a large spike in their Medicare premiums, and includes important long-term entitlement reforms without raising taxes.  While this is a step in the right direction, it’s certainly not the end of the road.  I am hopeful that this is a starting point for both parties to finally get serious about addressing the serious fiscal challenges we’re leaving to our children and grandchildren.” 

The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 provides the following:

• Prevents a dangerous default that would threaten our economy—increases the debt ceiling through March of 2017;
• Strengthens our national security and protects our troops—increases the spending cap by $58 billion for the Department of Defense over the next two years;
• Protects more Americans from Obamacare—repeals provisions of the President’s health care law by eliminating the law’s auto-enrollment mandate; and
• Secures significant long-term savings from structural entitlement reforms—reforms to the Medicare and the Disability Trust Fund will produce close to $200 billion in long-term savings while protecting seniors from an increase in their Part “B” premiums.