|
Government Waste/Pork
Congress holds the purse strings of the federal government and therefore has a duty to be good stewards of the taxpayer's hard-earned money. It is important to the national economy that our government spends its money wisely.
Congress, through the different Committees, has been able to identify and root out areas of waste, fraud and abuse within our government agencies and programs. Concerns about our federal deficit and excessive government spending have been long-time top priorities for me.
I work closely with groups like Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) to help reduce excessive government spending. CAGW has consistently recognized my efforts for cutting waste in Congress. I strongly support eliminating our federal deficit of $1.8 trillion and reducing the size of our national debt, which now stands at over $11 trillion. The debt is comprised of all past cumulative budget deficits, federal borrowing, compounded interest, and other factors. This is one of the main reasons why I have voted against the omnibus spending bills and the recent string of government bailouts. Congress simply does not need to spend so much.
I am a co-sponsor of several pieces of taxpayer protection and budget reform legislation, including the Family Budget Protection Act. This bill creates a simple and legally binding budget to ensure that Congress is living within its means. It makes the budget resolution have the force of law thereby committing Congress and the President to the same budget before spending any money that year. It abolishes the current practice of emergency spending bills and instead creates a rainy day fund to be used in case of emergencies. This bill also sets discretionary caps that allow spending to grow for inflation with a firewall separating defense, non-defense, and emergency spending.
|
