(Washington, DC) -- As fiscally responsible lawmakers today unveiled "Operation Offset" to balance Hurricane Katrina recovery costs with other federal spending reductions, the 350,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU) reported "ready for duty," armed with brains as well as grassroots brawn on behalf of budget restraint.
"Given the huge run-up in wasteful federal spending over the past several years, there is simply no need for Congress to compound natural disasters with a fiscal disaster," said NTU President John Berthoud. "If relief from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are at the top of the federal agenda, sound budgeting demands that taxpayers likewise be relieved from costly programs at the bottom of the list."
NTU applauded Congress Members with the Republican Study Committee for proposing a sensible set of recommendations for government program slowdowns, reductions, or eliminations that could "offset" the federal spending increases triggered by Congress's response to Hurricane Katrina. Writing in the September 8 Wall Street Journal, Berthoud noted that federal spending has increased a hefty 58 percent from a decade ago and that "post-Katrina questions ... should focus not on how much government has been spending but how it has been spending." He also took issue with Majority Leader Tom DeLay's remark last week that the GOP majority had "pared ... down" federal spending so well that there was no more fat to be found.
Berthoud wrote in a separate Washington Times op-ed on Monday that "there are dozens of federal programs and agencies that could be scaled back or eliminated in their entirety with some leadership from Republicans," including the recent earmark-stuffed highway bill, the Medicare prescription drug benefit, farm subsidies, and ill-considered Army Corps of Engineers projects.
NTU has pledged to mobilize the full might of its own members as well as other taxpayers for Operation Offset, through initiatives such as e-mail alerts, op-eds, talk radio appearances, local-level rallies, and, possibly, paid advertising. The group was an early advocate for this process, and championed Rep. Jeb Hensarling's attempt to offer an amendment calling for corresponding spending reductions to balance the increases in the second Katrina supplemental package. Also, NTU's research arm, the NTU Foundation, has assembled a comprehensive database of current and past spending reduction legislation introduced (but not necessarily enacted) in Congress.
"Federal spending restraint was a vital task even before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, but now Hurricane Rita's ominous approach toward the U.S. ought to make Operation Offset an even more imperative mission for Members of Congress," Berthoud concluded. "Every dollar Washington spends must count and be counted, for the victims of these storms as well as the nation's taxpayers."
NTU is a non-partisan citizen group working for lower taxes and limited government at all levels. Note: For further information on NTU's spending restraint efforts, visit www.ntu.org.