Budget and Fiscal Responsibility

Families across western and central Wisconsin know a budget is about priorities. Responsible budgeting also means adhering to some basic principles: don’t spend more than you take in and make smart investments that will help you down the road. With that in mind, I’m working to restore fiscal accountability and discipline in Congress.

Deficit Reduction Plan

I’m committed to making the tough decisions to actually cut wasteful and unnecessary spending. We can do that by reforming four categories of spending.

• Rising health care costs are the fastest area of spending in the federal budget. We must change the way we pay for health care to get these costs under control. Fortunately, recent health care reform puts us on a path to do this.
• Current weapons programs are $300 billion over budget - we must bring these costs under control.
• We must reform our outdated taxpayer-funded farm subsidy programs. They are not responsible to taxpayers, do not help family farmers, and have distorted the marketplace.

Office Budget Giveback

My commitment to fiscal responsibility extends to my congressional office, where I have direct control over the budget. Working with my staff, I have identified savings and cuts every year that we can make to operate my offices in the most fiscally responsible manner possible.

In 2012, I found $81,326 in my office budget to return to the U.S. Treasury, bringing the total amount of federal funds that I have returned to taxpayers to over $1.4 million since I came to Congress. Last year’s savings are on top of the sequester cuts facing the federal government, which during 2013 will lower my office budget by 8.2%.

Of course, my annual budget givebacks are not going to solve our budget problems alone. But that’s no excuse to not do what I can to make a stand on behalf of the taxpayer and show that it’s possible for elected officeholders to provide excellent constituent service on a lean budget.

Default

We cannot let America default on our obligations because we are unwilling to work together to find a compromise on the budget. I know we can find common ground and make the tough decisions necessary to get us on a sound fiscal path. Hear me talk about the importance of putting partisanship aside and cutting wasteful spending in this Fox News interview.

It is imperative that we start making decisions that will guarantee our children inherit a better country. We must restore fiscal responsibility to get this economy growing again.