John Boehner - 8th District of Ohio

Spending Your Tax Dollars Wisely

Spending Your Tax Dollars Wisely

Since being elected to Congress, I have remained committed to promoting fiscal discipline and ensuring that Congress spends your tax dollars wisely. Fiscal constraint, eliminating wasteful spending and curbing fiscal abuses are critical components of balancing the federal budget.

Unfortunately, just months into the 110th Congress we’ve seen numerous tax-hike proposals including:

    • A massive $392.5 billion tax increase on middle-class families in the Fiscal Year 2008 budget;

    • More than $15 billion in new energy taxes passed in July that will raise gasoline prices on consumers;

    • A 115 percent to 2,200 percent increase in tobacco taxes in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) expansion;

    • A $7.5 billion tax increase in the Farm Bill, which threatens 5.1 million American jobs – including 1,200 in Ohio’s 8th District and another 4,000 in the surrounding counties – and investment in the U.S.;

    • An unprecedented new tax on every American who have a private health insurance plan included in the SCHIP plan that will expand the program to childless adults up to age 21;

    • A 5-cent per gallon increase in the federal gas tax to create a new highway infrastructure fund;

    • A 50-cent per gallon increase in the federal gas tax to pay for a plan to eliminate global warming;

    • Raising taxes on homeowners by ending the home-mortgage deduction;

These actions are in stark contrast to the steps taken by House Republicans over the previous years to promote fiscal discipline and ensure that Congress spends your tax dollars wisely. Among the steps we took:

• Zeroing Out Unnecessary Programs. House Republicans proposed 95 program terminations, three more than the Administration has proposed, for a savings of nearly $4 billion. This effort builds on similar efforts in previous years when House Republicans successfully terminated 53 programs for a savings of $3.5 billion.

• Putting the “Emergency” Back in Emergency Spending. In a victory for fiscal discipline, House Republicans insisted on rejecting billions of dollars in unnecessary and non-emergency spending for pet projects added to the emergency supplemental bill.

• Line Item Veto Helps Rein in Spending. House Republicans passed the Legislative Line Item Veto Act to make Congress more accountable for the spending it proposes, help eliminate worthless pork, and protect taxpayer dollars.

• A Budget Based on Fiscal Discipline. House Republicans approved a fiscally-responsible budget aimed at holding the line on spending and providing a “rainy day” fund for disaster response.

• Earmark Reforms to Bring Greater Accountability to Spending. House Republicans passed earmark reforms to bring more sunshine and more accountability to help Congress determine worthy projects from worthless pork. We fought to re-instate these reforms to ensure that American tax dollars are spent wisely.

• Grants Bill Promotes More Accountability. House Republicans approved legislation offered to increase accountability and transparency in the federal grant process.

• Spring Cleaning” Report Highlights Committee Oversight Successes. Republican-led House committees have exercised their congressional oversight responsibility to expose – and in many cases, eliminate – billions in waste, fraud, and abuse in federal programs.

Reversing the culture in Washington that believes the solution to every problem involves more government and more spending is not easy, but I am committed to promoting steps – and encouraging my colleagues to take these steps with me – to ensure that Congress spends your tax dollars wisely.