Hill: "We're Reining in Washington's Out-of-Control Spending'

Press Release

Today, Congressman French Hill (AR-02) issued the following statement after supporting the Spending Cuts to Expired and Unnecessary Programs Act:

"When Arkansans sent me to Washington, they demanded leadership and accountability and for me to be part of the solution to Washington's top-down, one-size-fits-all approach to spending. Across Arkansas, people are fed up with the federal government's wasteful spending.

"I am glad to support the president's request to cancel nearly $15 billion in expired federal funding -- because these funds are dollars that were approved in previous years and can no longer be spent. This includes expired funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and therefore will not affect current and future delivery of children's health insurance through this program, and in fact, the House recently voted to fully fund and authorize CHIP for ten years, the longest period in the twenty-year history of the program. I'm proud that we're taking a positive step to be better steward of our hard-earned dollars, cutting back on Washington's out-of-control spending."

Background:

The Spending Cuts to Expired and Unnecessary Programs Act, H.R. 3, would rescind more than $15 billion in previously authorized spending.

Pursuant to the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (ICA), the President requested rescissions of nearly $15 billion of unobligated balances from previously appropriated funding.

Previous presidents of both political parties, like President Ronald Reagan and President Bill Clinton, have regularly recommended rescission packages.

Additional information on H.R. 3:

This is the largest in the history of the ICA and rescinds funding previously provided in law and reductions to budget authority for mandatory programs.
Under the ICA, Congress has 45 days to act on the President's request and provides Congress special procedures to quickly act on the proposed rescissions.
The package includes 34 rescissions totaling $14.835 billion and affects programs at the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Health and Human Services, Justice, Labor, State, Transportation and the Treasury, as well as the Railroad Retirement Board.
Funding proposed to be rescinded have in many cases been left unspent by agencies for years.
None of the rescinded balances are from FY 2018 appropriations.

Rescissions include:

$4.3 billion from the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program.
$523 million from the Title 17 Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program.
$5.1 billion from Children Health Insurance Fund.
$1.8 billion from the Child Enrollment Contingency Fund.
$800 million from Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovations.
$500 million from the Farm Security and Rural Investment Programs.
$148 million from Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
$133 million from Railroad Unemployment Insurance Extended Benefits.
Note: The President's requested revision to the rescissions package made minor technical changes and withdrew four previously proposed rescissions. The amendment eliminates rescissions to the Ebola, Sandy, and miscellaneous transportation funds.
Text of the amendment which fulfills the requested revisions can be found here.

Source