Youcut Program

Through the Youcut program you have helped allow me to vote to cut $110 billion from budget and save taxpayers money. I encourage you to vote for the next suggestion we vote on in the House of Representatives at the Youcut website: http://republicanwhip.house.gov/YouCut/

First Cut: New Non-Reformed Welfare Program

The program was recently created to incentivize states to increase their welfare caseloads without requiring able-bodied adults to work, get job training, or otherwise prepare to move off of taxpayer assistance. Reforming the welfare program was one of the great achievements of the mid 1990s, saving taxpayers billions of dollars and ending the cycle of dependency on welfare. This new program, created in 2009 is a backdoor way to undo those reforms. The program currently costs approximately $2.5 billion a year. This vote: whether or not this program should continue or whether it should be terminated the savings used to reduce the deficit.

Vote Two: Eliminate Federal Employee Pay Raise

The FY2011 Budget proposed raising federal civilian pay by 1.4% beginning in January of next year. This will be on top of the 2.0% raise federal civilian employees received this past January, the 3.9% raise they received the previous January, and the 3.5% raise they received the January before that. Freezing federal civilian pay at the current level for one year would save approximately $2 billion next year and $30 billion over ten years.

Vote Three: Reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

Since taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government sponsored mortgage-backing companies, taxpayers have injected over $145 billion into the two companies. Yet Congress still has not considered proposals to reform these companies and recoup taxpayer funds. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that absent reform, costs to taxpayer will continue to grow. Taking action to reform these companies now (as opposed to delaying action as some have proposed) by ending their government conservatorship, shrinking their portfolios, establishing minimum capital standards, and bringing transparency to taxpayer exposure could generate savings of up to an estimated $30 billion.

Vote Four: Sell Excess Federal Property

The Office of Management and Budget estimated in 2007 that the federal government is holding $18 billion in real property that it does not need. Rather than selling this property, however, Federal law usually requires that it first be offered, often at no cost, to other government agencies, to state and local governments, to non-profits, and others. The federal government has conveyed at no cost: a building in Las Vegas that is intended to house the “mob museum,” land in Massachusetts for a private high school where tuition is over $29,000 a year, and a building in Florida that the federal government now leases back at a cost of over $100,000 a year. This proposal would amend federal law to require an expedited process for selling unneeded federal property with 80% of the proceeds used to reduce the deficit.

Vote Five: Prohibit Hiring New IRS Agents to Enforce the Health Care Law

According to the Congressional Budget Office, over the next ten years the IRS will require between $5 billion and $10 billion in funding to implement the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka the new health care law). These funds will be used to hire thousands of additional IRS agents and employees. Reforming our health care system shouldn’t require expanding the IRS. By prohibiting funding for both the expansion of the IRS for this purpose and the enforcement of the individual health care mandate.

Vote Six: End Taxpayer Subsidized Union Activities

Currently, some federal employees spend up to 100% of their workweek, paid by taxpayers, doing work for their union. Federal employees unions collect millions in revenue each year and spend significant amounts on political activities and lobbying, should they also be subsidized by the taxpayer for their official functions? In 2008 the Federal government spent $120 million paying employees for their time spent working on union activities (over five years this would total a minimum of $600 million.) (Also proposed as part of the RSC Sunset Caucus.)

Vote Seven: Prohibit Stimulus Funding for Promotional Signage And Recoup Previously Spent Funds

Across the country, signs have been erected to alert citizens that certain projects are being funded by last year’s stimulus bill. These signs, often along highways, provide no meaningful information, create no jobs, and have been criticized as taxpayer funded advertisements for the stimulus bill. Unfortunately, no accurate information exists on the total number of signs erected and their cost to taxpayers. Press reports from across the country indicate, however, that the costs could well be in the millions of dollars. This proposal would prohibit funding for any additional signs, would require agencies to report on the amount already spent on signs, and would recapture those funds for taxpayers by reducing the agencies' administrative expenses by an amount equal to that spent on signs.

Vote Eight: Prohibit "First-Class" Subsidies on Amtrak

While only 16 percent of Amtrak long-distance passengers opt for "sleeper class" travel, as opposed to coach class, federal taxpayers provide substantial extra subsidies for this first class travel. Passengers in long-distance first class travel are provided a sleeping room, many with a private toilet and shower, turn-down service, and complimentary entertainment and pre-paid food. Yet, Amtrak loses more than twice as much per passenger (an average of $396) for first class service as compared to coach class service. These losses are made up by taxpayers. This proposal would eliminate subsidies for first-class service and require Amtrak to provide any first class service at cost.

Vote Nine: Bipartisan Proposal to Terminate the Advanced Earned Income Tax Credit. Saves $1.1 billion over ten years

On July 20th, four Democrat Congressmen launched a working group to focus on deficit reduction. Among the savings put forward by the lawmakers was endorsement of a proposal advocated by the Administration to terminate the Advanced Earned Income Tax Credit (AEITC) because it "has a high error rate and is not widely utilized by eligible taxpayers." Under the program, eligible taxpayers may receive a portion of their EITC throughout the year in their paychecks. A government audit revealed that some 80 percent of recipients did not comply with at least one program requirement; 20 percent had invalid Social Security numbers and thus may not have been eligible for the credit; 40 percent failed to file the annual tax return required to reconcile the credit; and of the 60 percent of recipients who did file a return, two-thirds misreported the amount received. As a result, this program is particularly susceptible to waste, fraud, and abuse.

Vote Ten: Require Collection of Unpaid Taxes From Federal Employees

  In 2008, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reported that over 97,000 federal employees were delinquent on their federal income taxes, owing almost $1 billion in unpaid taxes. While all Americans have an obligation to pay the taxes they owe, because federal employees draw their compensation from the American taxpayers, they are especially obliged to pay their share of taxes. If not, the government should be allowed to terminate the employment of current federal employees and prohibit the hiring of future federal employees who are, after due process consideration, determined to have a "seriously delinquent tax debt." Currently, only IRS employees can be terminated for non-payment of federal income taxes. This should be expanded to include all political appointees and civil service employees.

Vote Eleven: Reduce Government Employment to 2008 Levels: Saves taxpayers $35 billion over ten years
 
The federal government has added approximately 188,000 new employees (excluding temporary census workers) since 2008. Implementing a policy whereby the government only hires one person for every two who leave civilian government service until the workforce is reduced to pre-Obama levels would result in significant savings for taxpayers. Under this proposal the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs are exempt from this requirement, and the President is provided flexibility to distribute newly hired employees by need.