The Honorable Tom Price
United States House of Representatives
424 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Jim Jordan
United States House of Representatives
515 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representatives Price and Jordan:
On behalf of the 362,000 members of the National Taxpayers Union (NTU), I write to offer our support for the Republican Study Committee's FY 2011 budget resolution, which would balance the budget and safeguard against wanton deficit spending.
Highlights of H.Con.Res. 281 include the following:
- Makes permanent the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts and the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) patch;
- Proposes that overall discretionary spending return to FY 2008 levels until the budget is balanced in 2019;
- Provides spending increases for Medicare and Medicaid equivalent to economic growth rates;
- Requires each committee to find savings equal to 1 percent of total mandatory spending under its jurisdiction;
- Repeals the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP); and
- Repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act.
Your fiscal blueprint accomplishes all of the aforementioned objectives without raising taxes and further burdening the American people with big government's reckless spending. Moreover, we would begin to see surpluses in 2019 and 2020 and $6.4 trillion less debt than proposed in the President's plan. H.Con.Res. 281 is particularly welcome since the House has yet to pass its own budget for FY 2011. If that trend continues, we will witness a political stunt unprecedented since the inception of the Congressional Budget Act in 1974. It is downright irresponsible and inexcusable to continue to pass monumental pieces of spending legislation with no budget outline in place. We commend the Republican Study Committee for taking the initiative to tackle a necessary, albeit difficult, task while balancing the budget and maintaining fiscal responsibility.
NTU strongly endorses H.Con.Res. 281, the Republican Study Committee's FY 2011 budget resolution. Any roll call votes on this legislation will be significantly weighted in our annual Rating of Congress.
Sincerely,
Jordan Forbes
Federal Government Affairs Manager