Weekly Column - House GOP Keeps Focus on Spending Cuts

Statement

Each week the 112th Congress has been in session, House Republicans have passed legislation to bring spending levels down and begin restoring balance to the budget. First, we passed new rules reducing congressional operating budgets by 5 percent and instituting a requirement that any new spending in one part of the budget be balanced by cuts elsewhere. Last week brought the repeal of President Obama's unpopular, $1.2 trillion government health care program. And this week, the House votes on a resolution to reduce spending to 2008 levels.

During the four years when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress, the government's annual deficit reached $1 trillion for the first time in history -- followed in rapid succession by the second and third times. These back-to-back years of trillion-dollar deficits caused the national debt to jump from $8.6 trillion to $14 trillion. Our debt is so great, Washington now borrows 40 cents of every dollar it spends. Returning spending to 2008 levels -- before the failed $787 billion stimulus and $1.2 health care takeover -- would save $100 billion right away. More importantly, it would reverse the dangerous upward trajectory of federal spending and set the budget heading in the right direction: down. In the weeks ahead, the House Budget Committee will begin issuing budget limits for the coming year, using 2008 levels as a ceiling. I was honored to be appointed recently to this crucial panel, in addition to continuing to serve on the Appropriations Committee. This unique opportunity means I will participate both in setting spending limits on the Budget Committee and then in enforcing them through Appropriations Committee bills. I can assure Oklahomans that protecting their tax dollars will be my top priority.

The House is also scheduled this week to consider my proposal to save $520 million over 10 years by eliminating taxpayer financing of presidential election campaigns and party conventions. The Presidential Election Campaign Fund is a prime example of an obsolete government program that has persisted for decades due to sheer inertia and neglect. Established in 1971, the fund provides up to $84 million each in taxpayer funding to the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates in the general election, in addition to $42 million in matching funds for primary elections and $16.8 million for each party's nominating convention.

Besides the fact that taxpayers should not be responsible for footing the bill for presidential campaigns, the system is unnecessary in modern elections. Both candidate participation and voluntary taxpayer contributions to the fund have been in steady decline for years -- with no discernable harm to our democracy. In the most recent election, President Obama raised a record $745 million in contributions without public financing. If our elections functioned successfully prior to 1971 without the Presidential Election Campaign Fund, we certainly don't need it in this era of 24-hour news networks and online communications. What we do need is to get the national debt under control, and $520 million in savings is no minor sum.

The Presidential Election Campaign Fund is just one example of the wasteful spending House Republicans will work to eliminate. While this program provides no benefit to any taxpayer and will not be missed, we will also need to cut some more popular programs. These decisions will not be easy, but they are unavoidable if we are to avert fiscal disaster.

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