On Wednesday evening, a cost-cutting amendment (H.AMDT. 256) to the Homeland Security appropriations bill (H.R. 2638), introduced by Rep. Lamborn (Colorado Springs) was agreed to by a vote of 381 to 41.

“This amendment is the first step of many necessary steps in forcing fiscal discipline and sanity upon the federal government and out-of-control federal deficit spending,” declared Rep. Lamborn on the floor of the House of Representatives last night. “We must find both common sense and innovative new ways to do more with less. The federal budget must not grow faster than American families’ ability to pay for it.”

Currently, the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill seeks to increase spending by $2 billion more than the President has requested. This amendment decreases this exorbitant budget by $300,000 as it returns the Office of Public Affairs in the Office of the Secretary and Executive Management account to its FY 2007 level.

“In a time when the Federal Government faces an $8.8 trillion national debt we must show the American people that we can be fiscally disciplined and that we will reduce this deficit,” said Rep. Lamborn. “Increasing the size of government or the amount of bureaucracy in the government is not going to help this reduction effort.”

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