Reining in Washington Spending

Our nation finds itself on the verge of national bankruptcy as a result of Washington politicians borrowing from future generations to pay for constituencies today through policies that have attempted to spend, borrow, and bailout our way to economic prosperity.  I have been a leader in the fight against Washington’s spending spree in order to save the American Dream as it drowns in a sea of red ink.  I am fighting to protect the family budget from the federal budget to ensure we do not allow the torch of liberty to be mortgaged as a result of reckless Washington spending and so the American Dream will be bigger and brighter for the next generation.

• I served as the co-chairman of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit reduction. Established under the Budget Control Act of 2011, this committee was charged with issuing a formal recommendation on how to reduce the deficit by at least $1.5 trillion over the next ten.
• I previously served as one of 18 members on the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.  Established by a presidential order, this commission was charged with coming up with reforms to put our nation on a sustainable fiscal path.  My work on the commission focused on solutions to rein in out of control spending and to ensure than any recommendations protect taxpayers.
• I coauthored landmark budget reform legislation with Congressman Paul Ryan that was heralded as the “gold standard” of budget enforcement legislation by a coalition of conservative groups, including the American Conservative Union, Americans for Tax Reform, Citizens Against Government Waste, and the National Taxpayers Union.  This legislation, which I first introduced as the Family Budget Protection Act and later as the Spending, Deficit, and Debt Control Act, serves as the basis for House Republicans’ budget process reform agenda.
• I helped lead the successful fight to eliminate congressional earmarks, a form of wasteful Washington spending that were the gateway drug for spending addiction and big contributors to the culture of runaway spending in Washington.