FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 

CONTACT: Cullen Schwarz (Peters)
(202) 641-3781

Ryan Carbain (Adler)
(856) 985-2777

Paul Heintz (Welch)
(202) 225-4115

Elizabeth Kerr (Himes)
(202) 225-5541                             

PETERS’ SPENDING CUT WORKING GROUP CLAIMS FIRST VICTORY, WELCOMES NEW MEMBER

Spending Cuts and Deficit Reduction Working Group’s First Budget Cut Advances, Rep. Dina Titus Becomes Group’s Fifth Member

Group Now Targeting Appropriation Bills; Other Members Following Suit

(Washington, DC) – The Spending Cut and Deficit Reduction Working Group, founded by Representative Gary Peters, today achieved action on the first of its proposed federal spending cuts in the U.S. House, just one week after the group’s formation was officially announced.  Last week the group unveiled a package of legislative measures designed to cut over $72 billion from the federal budget, and today the House Financial Services committee passed one of the group’s provisions as an amendment to the Housing Preservation and Tenant Protection Act of 2010 (H.R. 4846).  The amendment will save taxpayers over $2 billion by pegging housing subsidies for a single individual to the market rate of an efficiency apartment rather than a one-bedroom unit.

“I am proud to be a founding member of this working group and pleased we were able to achieve action on one of our proposals so quickly,” said Representative John Adler, the author of the housing amendment and member of the Spending Cuts and Deficit Reduction Working Group.  “Washington can no longer afford to spend money it does not have.  Like families and seniors in my district, Congress must cut spending and balance the budget.  I will continue to work in a bipartisan way to pay down our debt.”

The working group also today announced the addition of its first new member, Representative Dina Titus (D-NV).  The four founding members, Rep. Peters, founder and chairman of the new working group; Co-chair John Adler (D-NJ); and the groups’ other founding members, Peter Welch (D-VT) and Jim Himes (D-CT) invited all Members of Congress from both parties to join the working group, whose mission is to identify and fight to enact specific wasteful spending cuts to help reduce federal budget deficits.

The Spending Cuts and Deficit Reduction Working group is continuing to aggressively press to enact its budget cutting proposals unveiled last week, along with spending cuts as they are identified.  Working group members plan to offer amendments to cut wasteful spending in the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and the Military Construction/Veterans Affairs budget—and other Members appear to be following in the working groups footsteps, with a slew of budget cutting amendments now being offered for these appropriations bills.

“After just one week, momentum to cut spending is building,” said Representative Gary Peters, chairman of the new working group.  “Seven days after we announced our working group’s formation and unveiled our cost-cutting measures, our first spending cut was passed in committee and our first new member has joined.  Now more members, both Democrats and Republicans, are following our lead and offering specific cuts to appropriations bills.  We formed this working group precisely because we believed that once a few Members started putting specific spending cuts on the table, others would be willing to do the same.”

A number of amendments were presented to the House Rules Committee this evening for consideration when the Transportation, Housing & Urban Development bill is brought to the floor later this week. Amendments include across the board reductions and cuts to specific programs. Proposed cuts include items not requested by the president or programs funded above the president’s request.  The Rules Committee earlier today accepted amendments to the MilCon/VA budget from Peters to re-obligate funding from federal contracts that no longer need to be fulfilled and by allowing veterans to take their prescription medications home with them from VA hospitals, rather than being forced to dispose of them and then refill the prescription.

The four founding members announced the formation of the new Spending Cuts and Deficit Reduction Working Group on July 20.

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