Rep. Waltz: ‘We have to stop this out-of-control spending’

WASHINGTON, D.C. (FLV) – U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla, spoke with Florida’s Voice on the current situation regarding the nation’s debt ceiling, potentially holding the secretary of state in contempt of congress, the border crisis, and his pick for president in 2024.

Waltz is a former Army Green Beret who served in Afghanistan, a former White House and Pentagon advisor, small business owner and proud father to son, Armie.

Potential debt ceiling deal

House lawmakers failed to come to an agreement Thursday on a deal to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, but reportedly made progress.

Waltz said the “ball is in President Biden’s court,” as House members came together and passed their own version of a debt ceiling increase, which included major reductions in spending, although a deal has not yet been made.

“We have to get our spending under control. I would no more increase my teenage daughter’s credit card limit without a conversation about spending than we should the country’s,” Waltz said.

“We passed a bill, if you don’t like what’s in the bill, come to the table and let’s talk about it. Unfortunately, President Biden waited over three months to even have a conversation, now we’re on the edge of a crisis. And yeah, we’ll see what comes out next week,” Waltz said.

Waltz said he signed on to the bill and thinks “pretty much everything” that was in that bill needs to be on the table.

“We need to get our spending under control. We can’t just keep spending ourselves into oblivion,” Waltz said.

Waltz said it’s becoming a “serious national security issue, in addition to putting every government program at risk.”

“If we’re not going to default next week, we’re going to default and have no choice in the coming years with this out-of-control spending,” Waltz explained.

Waltz said people need to understand the interest alone that we’re paying on our debt is “almost bigger than our entire defense budget.”

“As a national security professional, I know that our adversaries are planning and watching for us to go bankrupt as a country, so that we can’t even afford to defend ourselves anymore,” Waltz said.

“We have to stop this out of control spending, that’s what this bill seeks to do, and I’ll look to have everything that’s in it, in some future deal,” Waltz said.

House GOP leaders told members they could leave for the weekend, but should be ready to return to vote within 24 hours notice following the holiday.

Holding Blinken in contempt of Congress

Waltz serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and previously said that Republicans should move to hold Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress over his refusal to provide documents related to the Afghanistan withdrawal.

On Aug. 26, 2021, 13 American service members lost their lives in a terrorist attack on the Kabul airport in Afghanistan. 170 Afghans also lost their lives in the attack.  

Republicans have criticized the state department for continuing to withhold a key Afghanistan dissent cable from them.

“Dozens of diplomats who are in Kabul, as the Taliban were taking over, as the withdrawal was happening, that essentially said, without getting into details, if you continue down this road, the Afghan government will collapse, and this is going to be an utter and absolute disaster and debacle,” Waltz explained.

The dissent cable was sent in July 2021 and reportedly warned top state department officials of the possibility that Kabul would fall to the Taliban as U.S. troops left the country, Fox News reported.

“We know that was set in July of 2021. The administration had time to react,” Waltz said.

“We know that the general out there was also ringing the alarm bells. We’ve asked for those communications as well,” Waltz explained.

Waltz said the 13 Gold Star families deserve answers.

“America deserves transparency, there’s no reason to hold these documents back just because you got it wrong. They deserve better,” Waltz said.

“As long as the secretary of state’s gonna refuse to be accountable, to be transparent, to say, hey, we made mistakes, this is what we were warned and we went forward anyway, that he should be held in contempt of Congress,” Waltz explained.

Crisis on the border

“Biden’s border crisis” continues to make headlines after over five million illegal crossings occurred at the southern border.

Waltz said behind it all are the cartels who are “literally making tens of billions of dollars a year from smuggling humans, smuggling fentanyl, that’s killing tens of thousands of Americans.”

In addition, they have “operational control” of the border and “huge swaths of Mexico,” he said.

Waltz said the U.S. should treat the cartels “more like ISIS than the mafia.”

“I’ve introduced a measure along with Rep. Dan Crenshaw, navy seal from Texas, to unleash military resources, not boots on the ground, but satellites, intelligence, drones and others, to be in putting these cartels on their back foot,” Waltz said.

“We know how to dismantle these types of terrorist networks and we can’t just go year after year with 100,000 Americans dying. If ISIS were doing this with chemical weapons, we would be treating them the same way, and that’s what we need to do on our border, and we’ve got to take control back,” Waltz said.

Endorsement for president in 2024

Waltz has endorsed former President Donald Trump for president in 2024.

“On the personal level, think what you want to President Trump, but every single time as a member of Congress, I’d called him when he was sitting in the Oval Office […] he always answered, or called me right back, and delivered for my constituents, every time,” Waltz said.

Waltz said other aspects include Trump’s policies and noted some of his accomplishments.

“I will take President Trump’s policies and getting back to those policies that had before the pandemic lockdowns – had America on such strong footing, whether it’s the border, the economy, crime, the Abraham Accords, the pivot on China, taking out terrorists […] and that was despite everything that was being thrown at him,” Waltz explained.

Waltz said he was present at the first debate when Trump said NAFTA was “terrible,” and said he was going to renegotiate it.

“Everybody laughed, and he did it,” Waltz said.

“I think anybody else were president, to this day, the Pentagon would still be dragging their feet on creating the Space Force. He got it done. And we haven’t even gotten started with the three incredible justices, and what’s going on in terms of turning our courts conservative, along with the Supreme Court.” Waltz said.

“That’s just a little taste of what he was able to get done in just one administration. I think he can hit the ground running and building on that and the next administration, and for those reasons I endorsed him,” Waltz said.