Today the U.S. House of Representatives voted on a final Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the federal government for the remainder of FY2011. Congressman Rob Bishop (R-UT) voted in support of the measure, which among many things, cuts tens of billions of dollars in federal spending, eliminates funding for the Department of Interior's controversial wild lands proposal, emphasizes the importance that NASA maintain important heavy-lift capabilities for space and missile defense, removes the gray wolf from the Endangered Species list, and ensures that our military and support personnel are not subject to furloughs.
"At the beginning of year, the President proposed a budget that made zero cuts to spending. Today, Republicans succeeded in diverting the course that would have otherwise been taken if the President and Democrats in Washington had it their way. We are making progress and we continue to gain new ground in our efforts to drastically overhaul and reverse past spending practices, but we have to cut more.
"The reality is that while Republicans maintain the majority in the House, we still face a Senate and White House controlled by the Democrats. So far, though, we have gained far more than we have lost and have cut tens of billions of dollars in federal spending while averting a government shutdown. Millions of Americans, including our nation's military and support personnel at bases like Hill AFB, will not have to go without pay and many wasteful programs such as DOI's wild lands initiative have been cut. In total, this bill represents the largest spending cut in American history. This is a drastic improvement over what has occurred in the past few years.
"In addition to making historic cuts to spending, this legislation prohibits federal funding of abortions in the District of Columbia, saving the lives of many unborn children.
"While this bill does many good things for the state of Utah as well as the entire nation, the reality is that it only addresses federal spending through September. The real fight lies ahead with the 2012 budget, which is scheduled to be voted on tomorrow and includes trillions of dollars in cuts, reforms Medicaid and Medicare, repeals ObamaCare, and continues to drastically reduce discretionary funding. The battles over the provisions included in the FY2011 budget and many more will have to be fought and won again. The fight to secure trillions of dollars in cuts in the FY2012 budget cannot begin until the budget for FY2011 is passed in both the House and the Senate. I along with my Republican colleagues remain committed to ensuring that we cut trillions in wasteful federal spending in the next fiscal year, tenfold of what is included in the final FY2011 package.
"If I had it my way, we would have cut more, however it is far better than where we have been and evidence that we are headed in the right direction."