Hearing of the Senate Budget Committee - Congress Must Set Limits on Its Spending

Statement

U.S. Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH), ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee and a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today issued the following statement regarding news reports that Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid will likely agree to Republicans‟ request to limit discretionary spending by the Appropriations Committee in 2011 to the spending caps proposed by Senators Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO). This plan would limit such spending to the level for 2011 set out in the current budget resolution for 2010, cutting more than $25 billion from President Obama‟s budget request for 2011.

Senator Gregg stated, "I am pleased that my Senate Democratic colleagues have recognized the strong commitment of the Republican side of the aisle to fiscal restraint in this year‟s appropriations process. At a time when millions of American families are tightening their belts to make ends meet and with skyrocketing deficits, it is only appropriate that Congress sets some priorities and limits for its own spending. The Sessions-McCaskill proposal cuts the President‟s bloated budget request by billions of dollars.

"Last week, Majority Leader Reid conceded on the Senate floor that he is in „general agreement‟ that appropriation bills will end up at the Sessions-McCaskill levels; however, this agreement has not yet been finalized. I am hopeful that members of the majority will quickly join us on this common-sense approach that will start to control reckless Washington spending practices."

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