Given the limited options on the floor today, NTU urges all Senators to vote “YES” on H.R. 1. to trim $57 billion from the 2011 budget and “NO” on S. Amdt. 149. Neither measure goes far enough in addressing our $1.6 trillion overspending problem, but H.R. 1 is the preferable of the two alternatives before you now.
H.R. 1’s exceedingly modest cuts of $57 billion represent just 1.5 percent of total spending this year. Nevertheless, they are a start toward establishing a new foundation of spending restraint that can be built upon in the future. While NTU has been aggressive in supporting additional reductions, including a joint report with the liberal group U.S. PIRG identifying $600 billion of wasteful expenditures, apparently the Senate is not collectively ready to walk the path of spending restraint. H.R. 1 at least allows for some crawling in the right direction.
In contrast, S. Amdt. 149 is nothing more than a dismissive hand-wave. Its cuts amount to less than two-tenths of one percent of total spending, equal to about one day’s worth of deficit. This is simply not a credible spending reform package and should be rejected as the transparent ploy that it is.
NTU continues to support much larger spending reductions, but in the immediate legislative context we must identify a “YES” vote on H.R. 1 and a “NO” vote on S. Amdt. 149 as the pro-taxpayer positions in our annual Rating of Congress.
If you have any questions, please contact:
NTU Vice President of Government Affairs Andrew Moylanat (703) 683-5700