Press Release
Study: Incoming House GOP Committee Chairs Have Legislative Agendas to Cut Budget an Average of $41 Billion
(Alexandria,
VA) – With the long-term outlook of the federal government painted red from
deficits, will the new Republican majority be able to get the budget back in the
black? Some interesting clues are offered in a National Taxpayers Union
Foundation (NTUF) study of Committee leadership released today. NTUF determined
that outgoing Democratic Chairs at 19 Committees with influence over parts of
the budget supported legislation to boost federal spending by an average of
over $800 billion, while incoming Republican Chairs would cut outlays by more
than $40 billion.
“The shift in political control over
the House of Representatives will also lead to major shifts in the fiscal work-product
most of its Committees will send to the floor,” said NTUF Senior Policy Analyst
and study author Demian Brady. “The
recent records of the incoming Committee Chairs indicate that taxpayers should
see not just less spending coming from the legislative ‘workshops’ of the House,
but possibly real attempts to pare it back.”
The study utilizes the BillTally system
to determine the dollar cost of the legislative agendas of the potential new
Chairs in the next Congress. BillTally tabulates the cost or savings of every
piece of spending legislation introduced in Congress and cross-indexes these
figures with the sponsorship records of all Representatives and Senators. Figures
are based on legislation introduced from the opening of the 111th
Congress through the late-summer recess of 2010.
Among
the findings of the study:
- Each
one of the 19 outgoing Democratic Chairs included in the NTUF analysis compiled
net legislative agendas to increase annual federal spending, from a minimum of
$10.0 billion (Armed Services head Ike Skelton) to a maximum of $1.463 trillion
(Financial Services Chair Barney Frank). The average overall net spending hike
(minus any offsetting cuts) this group advocated was $803.2 billion –
significantly higher than the $500-plus billion average for all Democrats in
the House.
- At
least 12 (possibly more) of the 19 incoming Republican Chairs sponsored bills
whose net effect would lower federal outlays, proposing an average annual
agenda to cut the budget by $40.9 billion – nearly in line with the $48.1
billion reduction that the average rank-and-file House Republican called for
during the same period. Individual totals ranged from a net spending hike of
$63.3 billion (Peter King, Homeland Security Committee) to a net reduction of
$123.1 billion (Lamar Smith, Judiciary Committee).
- Ten
of the Democratic Chairs who will no longer be heading their panels are cosponsors
of “single-payer” health care legislation, whose outlay costs dwarf those
associated with the health reform bill enacted into law earlier this year.
- The
Republican Chairs of the Appropriations and the Energy and Commerce Committees
could have agendas to raise or cut expenditures depending upon who finally
gets the gavel. Another contested Chairmanship (Financial Services) has only
“net spending cutters” vying for the leadership spot.
“Next year the House GOP majority will
have the chance to take taxing and spending policy in a different ‘new
direction’ from the ‘new direction’ Democrats charted just a few years ago,” Brady
concluded. “As BillTally shows, most signs point to a serious course correction
toward spending restraint; still, how far House Republicans will be able to
steer the budget depends not only on their commitment to the principles of the
Tea Party wave that swept them into power, but also on their ability to find
areas of agreement with the Senate and the President.”
NTUF
is the research and educational affiliate of the 362,000-member National
Taxpayers Union, a non-profit citizen group. Note: NTUF Issue Brief 162, House Committee Leadership in the 112th
Congress: Back in Black?, is available online at www.ntu.org.
