WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Ander Crenshaw voted Thursday (9/23) to save taxpayers $35 billion by supporting a plan that would reduce government employment to 2008 levels. The eleventh YouCut initiative was defeated by a majority of Democrats who have voted down all YouCut projects. To date, Crenshaw has voted to eliminate more than $155 billion in wasteful government spending under this new Republican program.
“The out-of-control policies put forth by President Obama and Speaker Pelosi have caused the size and the reach of our government to explode. While the private sector has lost millions of jobs, the federal civilian workforce has grown by approximately 188,000 new employees, or about 15 percent,” said Crenshaw, a member of the Republican Deputy Whip Team, who helped form project YouCut. “This plan would require the government to hire only one new worker for every two who leave service, except for the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs. The workforce reduction plan is not a rigid hiring freeze, but would allow the government to continue bringing in new workers while cutting significant costs.”
“I’ve heard from the folks in Northeast Florida, and they’ve sounded a desperate call for Washington to change its spend, spend, spend mentality to one of saving,” Crenshaw continued. “YouCut is a great way to accomplish that goal – one step at a time.”
The project YouCut website is accessible at http://republicanwhip.house.gov/YouCut. The initiative is designed to allow citizens to vote for their favorite spending cut and suggest programs that they think can be eliminated. Each week Congress will vote on the cut that receives the most votes.
House Democrats have defeated the following proposed spending cuts on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives:
• Week one: $25 billion - Eliminate duplicative welfare program.
• Week two: $30 billion - Eliminate federal employee pay raise.
• Week three: $30 billion - Reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
• Week four: $15 billion - Sell excess federal property.
• Week five: $15 billion - Prohibit hiring new IRS agents to enforce health care law.
• Week six: $1.2 billion - Prohibit taxpayer funding for union activities.
• Week seven: Millions of dollars - Prohibit stimulus funding for promotional signage and recoup previously spent funds.
• Week eight: $1.2 billion - Eliminate first class Amtrak subsidies.
• Week nine: $1.1 billion - Eliminate the Advanced Earned Income Tax Credit.
• Week ten: Up to $1 billion - Require the collection of unpaid taxes from federal employees.
• Week eleven: $35 billion - Reduce government employment to 2008 levels.
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