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Two Bills to Get Spending Under Control
Posted by Randy | February 22, 2012

I believe one of the first steps we must take to turn our nation’s fiscal course is to quit spending money we do not have and fix the broken budget process.  The American people need to know that they have a fact-based, honest budget, and that leaders in Washington are making every effort to expedite spending cuts. I recently supported two bills that would bring us closer to that end.

Reform the Budget Process. I supported the Budget and Accounting Transparency Act, H.R. 3581. This would bring government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on-budget and require consideration of the market risk when calculating the cost of federal loans and guarantees.  Read more here.

This bill passed the House by a vote of 245-180.

Expedite Consideration of Spending Cuts. I supported H.R.3521, to provide for an expedited process for spending cuts in which the President can submit to Congress proposed discretionary spending cuts from appropriations bills.  The President cannot unilaterally veto funding; this bill simply allows the President to propose a rescission, and for that proposal to receive expedited consideration in Congress. It would be voted on by the House and Senate and would have to be signed by the President to become law. Read more here.

This bill passed the House by a vote of 254-173.

Read more about my work to cut spending here.
Comments
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  • thomas g commented on 2/22/2012
    The American people are solidly behind increasing taxes on millionaires and billionaires, there is no dispute whatsoever regarding this initiative, to include many millionaires and billionaires themselves. Its to the point where thousands upon thousands of people are in the streets screaming for fairness. There is also no dispute that the disasterous Bush tax cuts have significally led to the dangerous state of affairs we find ourselves in. There is no record that these deep and unfair tax cuts have led to job creation as advertised either. Even the most famous of supply side economists warned that taxing the wealthy too low would lead to exactly the problem we find ourselves in today. So let's look back congressman Forbes to when you arrived in the congress along with president Bush and you assumed stewardship of the economy with a balanced budget and a climate of paying down the national debt. In your first 8 years aligning with president Bush we saw 7.5 TRILLION dollars of new debt, the loss of 3 million manufacturing jobs and dramatic increases in poverty while refusing to adjust the minimum wage for an astonishing 10 years. I believe that you know the will of the people is to return the tax rates for millionaires and billionaires to sensible levels, and yet you continue to refuse to act sir. We cannot even get a vote on the presidents JOBS ACT that is fully paid for and its been 160 days of inaction. We couldn't even count on you to show up and vote for the middle class tax cut extension. The facts are in sir and the disasterous Bush tax cuts need to expire immediately so we can regroup without making the problem unfixable. I urge you to simply acknowledge the facts and rescind your commitment to the Grover Norquist blackmail pledge as the republican representative of Virginia Beach has done so you can forge ahead with sensible stewardship decision making. The evidence is simply overwhelming congressman Forbes, and you cannot present any credible argument whatsoever in defense of refusing to realign obligations that the American people find fair. Why have you abandoned the middle class?
  • J D commented on 2/22/2012
    Thomas, we could confiscate every penny owned by the wealthy in this country and it would pay for less than ONE MONTH of federal spending. ONE MONTH! And what would we have gained? Nothing, except destroying the entire economy. People invest and take a lot of financial risk precisely because there is a lot to gain. The President himself admitted that raising taxes on "millionaires" (he really means people making more than $250,000 annually) actually DECREASES the amount of tax revenue the government receives, but that it was a matter of "fairness." This is national suicide. Waging class warfare--telling rich people you're going to take their money--is a surefire way to make them take the money they have and stick it in a Swiss bank vault instead of investing it in the economy and creating jobs, thereby creating the tax revenue you so enviously crave. The Democrat party counts on the economic ignorance of this country. Please keep demonstrating that fact.
  • Thomas G commented on 2/23/2012
    To JD - I think you have swallowed the snake oil with all due respect. Arthur Laffer, perhaps the father of supply side economics explained years ago the danger that would result in tax rates for the affluent were too low, and this is exactly what president Bush did. You cannot ignore the fact that the budget was balanced with plans in place to pay down the national debt and actually eliminate it before president Bush acted. The fact is that money was borrowed to finance those tax cuts and you know this. You also cannot offer rationale that disputes the recommendations of past and present Treasury secretaries, past and present chairmen of the Federal Reserve, business leaders from across the nation and leading economists from private and public entities, all of whom have testified before the congress as to the damage that policy caused. Even the Simpson Bowles committee concluded the same thing. The facts just don't lie sir. President Bush financed the disasterous war in Iraq as well, with no plan whatsoever to pay for it. I find it astonishing that you roll your eyes when crucial reforms of the financial industry are being thwarted by the very policy legislators that caused the collapse in the first place. President Bush, along with congressman Forbes helped to usher in the prescription drug program, after underestimating its cost by 30 billion...not to mention the total cost and they had no plan to pay for that either. The debt to scream about is the very debt that the republicans themselves ran up. As far as class warfare is concerned that is the most ridiculous argument weaving its way through America. The story does not stop here JD, but let me make it perfectly clear to you, executive salaries were 27 times that of workers in the early 70's and now they are over 267%...and the republicans refused to adjust the minimum wage for over 10 years! The rich are simply too rich in this country....and perhaps you have been manipulated by greed, but the facts are that greed, hypocrisy and outright incompetence by the republican obstructionists are bringing the nation to its knees. I don't think the constituency buys your claims one bit.
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