Rep. Heath Shuler has been appointed to the House Budget Committee. Full announcement from his office below:

Washington, D.C. – Representative Heath Shuler has been appointed to serve on the powerful House Committee on the Budget.

“Our nation’s exploding debt has become the single greatest threat to America’s economic future,” Rep. Shuler said. “The Budget Committee in the 112th Congress will play a pivotal role in setting the fiscal course of our nation for next two years and, hopefully, for years to come. I look forward to using my position on the Committee to find common ground between Republicans and Democrats to balance our budget, cut wasteful spending, and restore fiscal discipline and restraint in Washington.”

The Budget Committee determines the country’s spending priorities and develops the annual federal budget. As co-chair of the fiscally responsible Blue Dog coalition, Rep. Shuler worked closely with members of the Budget Committee in the 111th Congress to establish pay-as-you-go, or PAYGO, rules that ensure that neither spending nor tax legislation increase the federal deficit. These rules dictated that new mandatory spending programs or tax cuts must be offset by an equal amount of mandatory spending cuts. PAYGO was largely responsible for the budget surplus under President Clinton in the late 1990s.

“Congress must live within its means today to ensure our children and grandchildren are not paying for our actions tomorrow,” Shuler continued. “Balancing our budget will not be simple or easy, and cannot be done by just one political party. We must work in a bipartisan fashion to craft a balanced budget that invests in our future and keep taxes low. I look forward to getting to work immediately my Budget Committee colleagues on both sides of the aisle to protect America’s fiscal and economic security.”

In addition to the Committee on the Budget, Rep. Shuler serves on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.