The Hill - For Flake and Campbell, FY 2011 Did Not Cut Far Enough

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Reps. John Campbell (R-Calif.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) were two of just three Republicans who voted against the Republican spending bill for fiscal year 2011, and said they did so because the cuts -- hotly contested by Democrats -- did not go far enough.

"I didn't vote for the CR [continuing resolution] because it simply didn't go far enough to reduce spending," Flake told The Hill. "We've got to make much deeper cuts to get out of the fiscal hole we're in."

Flake had several amendment proposals to the spending bill, but most were rejected, including the first amendment to the bill that was offered. That amendment would have cut $19 million in Defense Department funding for advisory boards and commissions, but while Defense itself has said this cut should happen, the House narrowly voted to keep the money.

Campbell agreed the cuts did not get close enough to the $100 billion that many freshman Republicans wanted trimmed.

"The CR did not cut enough from actual spending," said Chris Bognanno, communications director for Campbell. "At final passage, we didn't reach the $100 billion mark in cuts from last year's spending levels, and Congressman Campbell could not support a plan that only got a little over halfway to our goal. He firmly believes our debt problem is so severe that we must make substantial reductions in all areas of federal spending, and this bill didn't do that."

The third Republican to vote against final passage of H.R. 1 was Walter Jones (R-N.C.), but he had not explained his reasons for voting against the bill as of Tuesday morning.

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