Sept. 15, 2025 Editor, The News-Gazette: In 2023, Ben Cline declared: “I came to Washington to drain the Swamp, not to make it deeper. That’s why I CANNOT in good conscience vote for this roughly $4 trillion debt increase.”
Cline promised instead to “end the trillion-dollar deficits” and “reduce spiraling debt” because they result “in untold financial hardship for the American people.”
But now that his party controls the White House and thin majorities in both houses of Congress, Cline has discarded his “conscience” to deepen “the Swamp,” increase “trillion-dollar deficits,” and increase the “spiraling debt.” Cline voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which raised the debt ceiling by $5 trillion, to a record total of $41.1 trillion.
To be clear, Cline should vote to increase the debt ceiling. Using the debt ceiling as a partisan weapon hurts everyone. After Cline and his Freedom Caucus 2023 standoff, a rating agency downgraded U.S. credit from AAA to AA+ due to the “deterioration in standards of governance.”
Despite the massive debt increase, Cline voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act because it lowered taxes – for the wealthiest of Americans. Those in the top 20% income range are receiving 68% of the cuts. That’s people making over $157, 000. But the 60% making $55,000 and less only get 15%.
That massive reduction in tax revenue hurts all Americans. The U.S. credit rating was downgraded again in May 2025 due to “a persistent mismatch between spending and revenue.”
Cline hurt us all in 2023 by using the debt ceiling as a partisan weapon, and he’s hurt again in 2025 by voting for the greatest debt increase in U.S. history, revealing that his anti-debt position was always just a lie. CHRIS GAVALER Lexington
