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Spending
With the national debt near $16 trillion for the first time in U.S. history, Congress must act to preserve our nation’s fiscal integrity and protect future generations. I support a number of provisions that would drastically reduce wasteful government spending and put the nation back on the track toward a balanced budget.
Reducing our Unsustainable National Debt
Our current national debt is simply unsustainable, endangering our economic recovery while burying future generations under an avalanche of debt. To put our nation’s fiscal house back in order, I supported the Budget Control Act and have proposed more than $114 billion in targeted savings over the next decade within my committee’s jurisdiction to offset the impending budget sequester.
Supporting the Spending Limit Amendment
I support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would simply limit the federal spending to one-fifth of the U.S. economy – the historical average since World War II. The limit could only be waived if a declaration of war was in effect or by a two-thirds vote of Congress.
Supporting the Balanced Budget Amendment
American families have made difficult budgetary decisions to live within their means – it is long past time for government to do the same. I support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution of the United States that would prohibit federal spending for any fiscal year from exceeding total receipts for that fiscal year (except those derived from borrowing), unless explicitly authorized by both bodies of Congress by a three-fifths vote. The amendment would also require a three-fifths vote of each chamber to increase the public debt limit.
Supporting an Earmark Ban
The earmark process is broken and riddled with scandal. I support the House Republican moratorium on all earmark spending for the 112th Congress.
Supporting the Line-Item Veto
I support giving the President of the United States the power of the line-item veto. Under this long overdue legislation, the President would have the authority to single out individual spending items in legislation that arrives on his desk for signature and send these specific line items back to Congress for a timely up-or-down vote on whether to rescind these spending provisions. Likewise, the President would be able to request the rescission of narrowly targeted special-interest tax breaks.
Eliminating the COLA for Members of Congress
I supported the successful efforts to eliminate the Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLAs) scheduled to be made to Member salaries for FY 2010 and FY 2011.
Reducing Congress’s Budget
I supported the successful Republican resolution to reduce the budgets for Members of Congress and House Committees for 2011 and 2012 by 5 percent across the board.
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