Thursday, September 20, 2012         

“I am deeply honored to receive this distinction from the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste because solving our country’s fiscal issues is one of my top priorities in the Senate,” said Isakson. “America cannot spend its way into prosperity; instead, we must make tough decisions to curb our spending and tackle our massive $16 trillion debt and record deficits. During this recession, the American people have had to lower their debt, cut their spending and get their personal finances in order. It’s time that government does the same. Our country can’t afford to wait.”

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement in government.
For its 2011 Congressional Ratings, the group examined 38 key roll call votes in the Senate to separate the taxpayer advocates in Congress from those who favor wasteful programs and pork-barrel spending. Isakson’s high score earned him the “Taxpayer Hero” honor.
Isakson has a longstanding record of demonstrating fiscal responsibility. In his congressional office, for example, he has returned more than $3 million of his annual office budget to the Treasury over the years as a former member of the House and as a current member of the Senate.

Isakson has introduced or co-sponsored numerous proposals aimed at reining in federal spending, including S. 211, the Biennial Budgeting and Appropriations Act. This bipartisan legislation would convert the federal budget process from an annual, chaotic rush, to a two-year, more thoughtful process that requires Congress to conduct oversight. The Biennial Budgeting and Appropriations Act dedicates the first year of a Congress to appropriating federal dollars and devotes the second year to scrutinizing federal programs to determine whether they are working and deserve continued funding. Isakson is also a co-sponsor of a constitutional amendment to balance the federal budget and has supported measures to curb federal spending, reform the budgeting process and increase oversight of federal spending.