House Speaker John Boehner meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House on Jan. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
(CNSNews.com) - Federal spending bills approved by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives have increased the national debt by more than $1 trillion dollars in just 10 months.
Republicans won a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in the November 2010 elections and took control of the House on Jan. 5, 2011, when the chamber convened and elected Rep. John Boehner (R.-Ohio) as speaker.
But the Republican-controlled House did not gain a veto power over federal spending until March 4, 2011. That was the expiration date of the continuing resolution (CR) that the lame-duck Democrat-controlled Congress approved in December 2010. After March 4, federal spending has been approved by legislation that needed to be approved in the Republican-controlled House.
On March 1, 2011, the Republican-controlled House passed its first CR to fund the government after March 4. Since then, it has approved a series of CRs to keep the government funded. The Republican House approved its latest CR on December 16. It will keep the government funded until the end of fiscal 2012 on Sept. 30.
Eighty-six House Republicans went against their party leaders and voted against the Dec. 16 CR, which actually garnered more votes from House Democrats (149) than House Republicans (147).
When the Republican-controlled House approved its first CR on March 4, 2011, the national debt was 14,182,627,184,881.03, according to the U.S. Treasury. As of the close of business on Jan. 9, 2012, the national debt was 15,236,506,139,986.86.
That means the debt increased by $1.05 trillion over the past ten months.
That equals approximately $8,964 for each of the 117,572,000 American households estimated by the Census Bureau.
At the current rate, the Republican-controlled House is agreeing to allow the U.S. Treasury to borrow approximately an additional $896 per month American household per month.
Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution says: "No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law." Article 1, Section 7 says that every bill “shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate … before it become a Law.”