This past week, several important steps were made to continue efforts to rein in government spending. As a proud member of the leadership team of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of fiscally-conservative Democrats, I am proud to see these strides being made to tackle our federal deficit and stop unnecessary and wasteful spending. The two bills that made progress last week are components of the 15 point Blue Dog Blueprint for Fiscal Reform.
Bill to Set Goals to Reduce the Deficit
Last week, I joined with other members of the Blue Dog Coalition to introduce the “Targeted Deficit Reduction Act of 2010.” The bill, another step forward in the Blue Dogs blueprint for fiscal reform, sets concrete goals to reduce the national deficit and encourages Congress to make efforts to meet those goals.
This bill will force Congress to examine and address our growing deficit on a regular basis, and to work actively to decrease that deficit over time. Dealing with our government spending problem will be challenging, particularly in contrast to the runaway spending of the last administration. Setting tangible goals and benchmarks will help ensure that we get spending under control once and for all.
The “Targeted Deficit Reduction Act of 2010” would create a plan to reduce the deficit by more than $350 billion over 5 years, primarily by setting fiscal targets to stabilize the federal budget over the next decade. Specifically, it would set three targets: to balance the primary budget (balancing government spending with revenue) by 2015, and have a fully balanced budget (which includes the primary budget and the interest paid to service our debt) by 2020, and to reach a 60% debt-to-GDP ratio by 2020.
Bill to Audit Federal Programs
Also last week, a Congressional Hearing was held to examine federal finances. That hearing praised a bill introduced by Rep. Cuellar of Texas and other fellow Blue Dogs. H.R. 2142, “The Government Efficiency, Effectiveness and Performance Improvement Act of 2009,” would institute performance-based budgeting whereby federal programs would be evaluated at least once every five years to make sure that federal taxpayer dollars are utilized in the most effective way possible. This bill would make sure that we are maximizing taxpayer dollars by not using taxpayer money to continue to fund ineffectual programs.
I am proud to support both these measures and other legislation to address our deficit. I will continue to keep you apprised of my efforts to promote fiscal discipline in the U.S. House.
###