ICMYI: We Have Achieved Real Spending Cuts

I came to DC to cut spending. In 2009 and 2010, a trio of laws were passed that dramatically increased spending, created more bureaucratic barriers to job growth, and put taxpayers on the hook for green energy boondoggles like Solyndra. Since I was sworn in, we have made significant cuts to discretionary spending: over $434 billion. We've taken personnel levels at agencies like the EPA to their lowest in years and cut overall discretionary spending to pre-2008 levels. Not cuts in growth or projected cuts years down the line, but REAL CUTS in spending.

The real driver of our deficit is mandatory spending, which is on autopilot and continues without Congress' annual appropriations process. When I was 16 years old, mandatory spending accounted for around 1/3 of federal spending. Now it is 75% of annual spending. In order to reverse this trend, we have to change the law. That means both chambers of Congress have to pass reforms and the President has to sign it (or Congress can override a veto). With mandatory spending reform, real tax reform, and a regulatory structure that incentives growth, we can put our nation's finances on the path to fiscal sanity.