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Last month President Bush delivered his third State of the Union address and his last of his first term as President of the United States. During his speech, which also marked the beginning of the second session of the 108th Congress, President Bush laid out ambitious goals for the future and new initiatives that will ensure a more secure, more prosperous and more hopeful country. The President and Congress are steadfast in advancing the cause of freedom around the world while making our country and those of our allies more secure in a time of danger. We are still committed to growing our economy and many other domestic priorities, but I believe during this session of Congress we must also be seriously dedicated to reigning in spending and downsizing the deficit. I will continue to work with the President to reduce spending on existing programs, and eliminate duplicitous, out-dated, and wasteful programs.
The President announced his budget for FY 2005 on February 2, 2004. By holding discretionary spending growth at 1 percent, the President has shown a commitment to fiscal responsibility even at a time of heightened security and the ongoing War on Terror, but it will take an even bolder action to seriously address our deficit concerns. This size of the deficit is large, but there are many good ideas and many feasible strategies that would enable us to limit spending while continuing to fund the nation's priorities.
There are many pieces of legislation that will be debated this year that would help restrain spending. I am a cosponsor of H.R. 3358, The Family Budget Protection Act, which reforms the budget process in order to limit federal spending and requires a balanced budget by 2009. I am cosponsoring H.J. Res. 22, which would add a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution.
Another good idea to help reign in spending is contained in H.R. 1227, The Abolishment of Obsolete Agencies and Federal Sunset Act of 2003, which I am also co-sponsoring. This bill creates a bipartisan Sunset commission, which includes members of the Congress and the public, that would evaluate the efficiency and track record of every Federal agency. The commission would then make recommendations to Congress about which Federal agencies should be re-authorized, streamlined, consolidated or eliminated. All Federal agencies would face an expiration date, usually every 12 years. Congress would then have an opportunity to reauthorize the agency or let it expire. The goal is to make sure every federal agency is held equally accountable. This process has already proved itself in 24 states. It will help reduce wasteful spending and duplication in Federal agencies, while also increasing agencies responsiveness and effectiveness.
Another piece of legislation to help reduce the national deficit is the House Deficit Reduction Safeguard Resolution, authored by fellow Oklahoma Congressman John Sullivan. This Resolution would make a small important amendment to the rules of the House to allow members of Congress to reduce the federal deficit, on the floor during the Appropriations process. Under current budget and House rules, when an amendment to an appropriations bill is offered that reduces spending, the money saved is left on the table for someone else to spend on another program. This makes it difficult to reduce the overall spending level of an Appropriations bill. With this new resolution the funds saved could be directly credited to the "Deficit Reduction Safeguard Balance."
As a new Member of Congress, and to get our economy moving again, I am actively working with my colleagues to promote fiscal responsibility. I am actively working with my colleagues to examine new ways of addressing the explosion in entitlement spending, while ensuring that seniors who depend on Social Security and Medicare and the poor who need a helping hand are adequately protected. Controlling spending and finding ways to pay down the national deficit is an important responsibility. We must not leave such a burden on future generations.
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