'Spendaholics'? Not House Republicans
Your Oct. 6 editorial "Spendaholics R Us" was an extremely narrow look at a very big problem: reducing the rate of federal spending. By focusing on one small piece of the puzzle, you neglected critical facts. Apparently, no good news goes undistorted.
First, those pesky facts. You note in your editorial that the federal deficit is over $300 billion. However, you do not mention that thanks to a strong economy and tax relief, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has announced that the projected deficit has fallen by $94 billion this year. Without our pro-growth policies in place, the deficit would have been over $400 billion. As I said before your board, this is proof that our policies are working.
Second, cutting federal spending is often couched in language like "reducing the rate of spending growth" or "keeping spending at the same level as inflation." Yet this year, the House-passed appropriations bills have eliminated 98 federal programs for a real cut of $4.3 billion in federal spending. You dismiss this number as paltry when it should be viewed as a running start. In fact, we plan to build on this action by de-authorizing these repetitive, wasteful and unnecessary programs for good. This will yield permanent savings year after year.
Even as we fund the global war on terror and look to rebuild the Gulf Coast, congressional Republicans and the president are looking for more ways to save. We were already targeting at least $35 billion in mandatory savings through the budget reconciliation process before Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck. In their aftermath, that number has become a floor, not a ceiling. Other ideas on the table include across-the-board spending cuts and increasing cuts through reconciliation to at least $50 billion.
No one, including me, said any of this will be easy. But your assertion that nothing is being done to address this problem is flat-out wrong. Just like Austin Powers caught in a time warp, your editorial is in denial about a whole lot of progress.
