Fiscal Responsibility

Like every family in America, the federal government must learn to live within its means. It is simply irresponsible to continue to rack up trillions of dollars in debt and then stick our children with the bill. I am proud that when I served on the Dublin City Council we balanced our budget each year. We can and we must reduce the federal budget deficit over time.

Deficit reduction needs to be balanced and smart, however, and include appropriate revenue increases. We must make sure the very wealthiest among us are contributing their fair share.

The federal government also has to carefully review its spending to eliminate old, wasteful programs, update current ones for the 21st century, and make strategic investments to promote economic growth in the future. Spending reductions should be targeted and smart, not across-the-board cuts (e.g., sequester) which reduce all programs equally regardless of merit. We can cut foolish spending without cutting foolishly.

What I am Doing for You

I’m an original cosponsor of H.R. 614, the Savings, Accountability, Value, and Efficiency (SAVE) Act of 2015.  This bipartisan bill would cut about $479 billion in spending over 10 years by cutting wasteful spending and improving government programs. This includes improvements in government procurement and contracting practices, reducing Medicare/Medicaid fraud, and increasing government building energy efficiency. (I also cosponsored this as H.R. 1999 in the 113th Congress.)

As co-chairman of the bipartisan Sharing Economy Caucus, I succeeded in getting the General Services Administration (GSA) to advise federal agencies that employees’ use of transportation network companies (TNCs) – often called ridesharing companies – while on official business is a permitted, reimbursable expense. This is often a cheaper and more efficient option.

I voted for H.R. 1314, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015. This bill, which became law, suspended the debt limit until March 15, 2017 and raised federal spending $80 billion over sequester caps (split evenly between defense and non-defense and offset with corresponding reductions), as well as provided $38 billion more for the war-related Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account over the next two fiscal years.  This compromise also limited the otherwise drastic increase some Medicare recipients would have had in premiums and kept the Social Security disability trust fund solvent.

In the 113th Congress:

I voted for H. J. Res. 59, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013.  This resolution established an overall budget for 2014 and 2015, reduced the sequester and allowed us to make key investments in our future while reducing the deficit over the long-term.

I voted against H. Con. Res. 25 and H. Con. Res. 96, the budgets proposed by then-Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan. These budgets would have ended Medicare as we know it, repealed the benefits of the Affordable Care Act, imposed drastic spending cuts, and given massive tax reductions for corporations and upper-income persons.