Dear Conferee:
On behalf of the 350,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU), I urge you as a conferee to adhere to spending levels that are no higher than those contained in the House-passed version of the FY 2006 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill. The confluence of recent disaster aid and a continuing creep in federal spending has only heightened the need for fiscal responsibility. Limiting future outlays by passing the House-approved version of H.R. 2419 rather than the Senate's more costly proposal would protect taxpayers from nearly a billion and a half dollars of excessive outlays.
The House version of the energy and water bill recommends appropriating a total of $29.74 billion for FY 2006, which is the same as the President's budget request and is actually $131.7 million below the FY 2005 funding level. However, the more expensive Senate version of the bill recommends appropriating $31.24 billion for FY 2006, which exceeds the President's request and the House bill by $1.49 billion and exceeds the current FY 2005 funding level by $1.4 billion. The difference between the two bills is almost $1.5 billion.
A variety of cost-saving measures have been discussed over in the past month by the President and Congressional leaders, including direct offsets and across-the-board cuts to discretionary and mandatory spending. The fight against bloated government is likely to be won at the margins, and Congress should show that it is serious by taking the taxpayer-friendly step of accepting the House version of the Energy Appropriations Bill. The Bush Administration has already indicated support for passage of the House bill, and keeping FY 2006 appropriation levels under FY 2005 levels would demonstrate a restored commitment to fiscal sanity.
NTU strongly agrees with the Office of Management and Budget that "sustaining the economy's expansion requires strong federal spending discipline." Please provide that disciplined leadership during conference negotiations by keeping the total cost of this legislation to an amount that is equal to or less than the President's original budget request.
Sincerely,
Kristina Rasmussen
Government Affairs Manager