Washington, Feb 1 -

Budget reconciliation is a useful tool that allows Congress to find savings in mandatory spending by reforming entitlement programs. Unlike discretionary spending, which is subject to review during the annual appropriations process, entitlement—or mandatory—spending simply continues to grow each year, largely without reform or review by Congress. Today, mandatory spending accounts for 55% of the budget, and it is growing at unsustainable rates, far outpacing inflation. At its current rate of growth, mandatory spending will take up 62% of the Federal budget by 2015, leaving little room for other priorities, such as education, science, veterans, and health care.

The Fiscal Year 2006 budget resolution includes reconciliation instructions to slow the growth of entitlement spending to help reduce the Federal deficit. Congress has not used reconciliation since 1997. As we face our responsibilities in the Gulf region, as well as in Iraq, it is more important than ever to reign in spending and find ways to reform programs so that waste, fraud, and abuse are minimized.

The nine authorizing Committees that have jurisdiction over mandatory programs have submitted recommendations for reform to the Budget Committee. These recommendations were combined into one reconciliation bill that was marked up by the Budget Committee and sent to the House floor for a vote. I voted for budget reconciliation.