By Doug Kellogg
There has been a looming threat of “government shutdown” during the contentious debate in the House on the Continuing Resolution (CR). To avert such a shutdown, and begin the long overdue process of reducing spending, Members of the House should come together and approve the Republican crafted “two-week CR”. That’s the assessment of the 362,000 member National Taxpayers Union (NTU), which pledged grassroots support for the measure.
NTU Vice President of Government Affairs Andrew Moylan said, “By its nature the two-week Continuing Resolution is not a long-term solution to our budgetary challenges. However, its $4 billion in cuts will provide a good starting point since they are already widely agreed upon, many having been proposed by President Obama himself in his most recent budget. Each and every Member of Congress who claims to be concerned about rising federal deficits should be able to support this modest and non-controversial legislation.”
During House debate earlier this over a CR (H.R.1) designed to address government funding until the end of the current fiscal year, NTU supported numerous amendments to the legislation that would further reduce spending levels. These included proposals to strip funding for an alternate engine on the F-35 fighter, remove costly “Davis-Bacon” wage requirements on CR-funded projects, and most importantly, a Republican Study Committee amendment to cut another $19 billion in non-security discretionary spending.
NTU continues to advise Congress on the need for sweeping entitlement reform, which is the key to fixing our long-term budgetary problems. On February 17, Moylan testified before the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform, where he identified $3.1 trillion in spending reductions as well as offered suggestions for restructuring entitlement programs.
“The two-week Continuing Resolution should help the vital process of deficit reduction by ending near-sighted political games over a government shutdown, and beginning a far-sighted discussion of spending and budgetary reform,” Moylan concluded.
The 362,000-member NTU is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working for lower taxes, smaller government, and economic freedom at all levels. More information is available at www.ntu.org.