Blog: Washington Doesn't Like Me Very Much: The Federal Deficit

Statement

Our nation's debt is $16.6 trillion. Deficits are at record levels, despite the fact that revenues have reached a record estimate of $2.7 trillion this year. Yet still, the government is wasting billions of dollars on unnecessary government programs. House Republicans have pleaded with the President and Senate Democrats to cut waste, but our demands have been met with silence. Absolutely nobody should be talking about raising taxes on hardworking Americans until we cut wasteful spending. Why would we even entertain the idea of raising taxes when there is so much waste to be cut? Washington has a spending problem and must start living within its means.

Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. Darrell Issa, issued a report on March 5th that revealed that unimplemented Inspector General (IG) recommendations could save taxpayers $67 billion. Congress installed IGs in Executive Branch agencies to audit and investigate programs to identify waste, fraud and abuse and to make recommendations to eliminate them. Yet, since 2009, there have been more than 16,000 recommendations made by the IGs to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse that have not been implemented by the Administration.

Take a look at these examples of government waste within the Obama Administration:

In FY 2010 alone, the FAA spent over $8 million on conferences for its employees. Three of those conferences cost over $4.5 million.

Washington spends $25 billion annually maintaining unused or vacant federal properties.

Health care fraud is estimated to cost taxpayers over $60 billion annually.
The federal government spent $3.4 million to study the impacts of backrubs on migraine headaches.

A pet care company received $500,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds for capital improvement while they had $140 million in revenue.

These are just a few examples of the unprecedented waste, fraud and abuse taking place under President Obama's watch.

A responsible spending plan that cuts waste will grow our economy and create jobs. House Republicans know this. However, it's been over 1,400 days since Senate Democrats passed a budget. We need to stop kicking the can down the road and get to work cutting the waste.

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