BamaFanNKy
03-15-2011, 03:56 PM
Amendment rolls back most discretionary spending to FY2008 levels
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sen. Rand Paul today introduced the Cut Federal Spending Act of 2011, as an amendment to the SBIR and STTR Reauthorization Act of 2011. The amendment will achieve savings of $200 billion in fiscal 2011 by reducing most discretionary spending to FY2008 levels, adding deeper cuts in some agencies and no cuts in others.
The legislation returns nearly all discretionary spending to FY2008 levels, cuts military spending by 5 percent (for a total of $30 billion) and does not impact war funding. Entitlements and veterans’ benefits will be left at current spending levels. In addition, it reduces funding by 50 percent to the Departments of Energy, Education, and Housing and Urban Development, and eliminates certain independent agencies.
Below is a video and a transcript of Sen. Paul’s introduction of the bill on the Senate floor this afternoon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTPNycS6j9Y
TRANSCRIPT:
I ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment and call up my amendment, No. 199. Is there objection?
PRESIDING OFFICER: Objection is heard.
This amendment number 199 would save the taxpayer $200 billion.
Recently you've seen some discussion, but I think the American taxpayers are actually baffled that there's not more discussion up here.
We have proposals of a deficit from the other side of $1.65 trillion, and yet we're not down here discussing this.
We haven't passed a budget. We haven't passed any appropriations bill this year.
The American people wonder what we're doing. You wonder why the American people say Congress has about a 13% approval rate.
Why aren't we today talking about a budget? Why aren't we talking about appropriations bills? Why do they not come out of committee?
And then when we get to the proposals, look at the proposals.
In the red, we have the deficit: $1.5 trillion. Maybe $1.6 trillion.
Here we have the proposals. The other side, you can't even see without a magnifying glass. $6 Billion.
We borrow $4 billion in one day. We spend $10 billion in one day. And the best they can do is $6 billion for a whole year?
Our proposal is a little bit better, but still doesn't touch the problem. $61 billion in cuts sounds like a lot of money. But you know what? We increase spending by $700 billion. And now we're going to nibble away at $61 billion.
But put it in perspective: saving $61 billion on $1.5 trillion means that either proposal, Republican or Democrat, is going to add trillions of dollars to the deficit.
I'm proposing something a little more bold. I'm proposing $200 billion in cuts. I think it's the very least we can do. $200 Billion in cuts can be gotten rather easily.
The Government Accountability Office said there's $100 billion in waste, duplicative programs.
Why don't we cut that? What are we doing?
If you look at the charts of what's going on here and you say what's happened to spending, the yellow line, around 2008 when we got the current administration, is going up exponentially.
That's the spending that's going up.
The spending is driving the deficit.
You look at the two lines over, you can't even see the difference.
This is the Republican proposal to cut $61 billion in proposed increases. Spending's still going up. The deficit is going up. We need to do more.
The danger is if we do nothing, then we may well face a debt crisis in our country. We need to do more.
My amendment will cut $200 billion in spending.
And when I go home and I talk to the grassroots voters, they say that's not even enough.
We need more.
But At the very least, let's have a significant cut in spending and do something to get the deficit under control before it's too late.
Thank you.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sen. Rand Paul today introduced the Cut Federal Spending Act of 2011, as an amendment to the SBIR and STTR Reauthorization Act of 2011. The amendment will achieve savings of $200 billion in fiscal 2011 by reducing most discretionary spending to FY2008 levels, adding deeper cuts in some agencies and no cuts in others.
The legislation returns nearly all discretionary spending to FY2008 levels, cuts military spending by 5 percent (for a total of $30 billion) and does not impact war funding. Entitlements and veterans’ benefits will be left at current spending levels. In addition, it reduces funding by 50 percent to the Departments of Energy, Education, and Housing and Urban Development, and eliminates certain independent agencies.
Below is a video and a transcript of Sen. Paul’s introduction of the bill on the Senate floor this afternoon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTPNycS6j9Y
TRANSCRIPT:
I ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment and call up my amendment, No. 199. Is there objection?
PRESIDING OFFICER: Objection is heard.
This amendment number 199 would save the taxpayer $200 billion.
Recently you've seen some discussion, but I think the American taxpayers are actually baffled that there's not more discussion up here.
We have proposals of a deficit from the other side of $1.65 trillion, and yet we're not down here discussing this.
We haven't passed a budget. We haven't passed any appropriations bill this year.
The American people wonder what we're doing. You wonder why the American people say Congress has about a 13% approval rate.
Why aren't we today talking about a budget? Why aren't we talking about appropriations bills? Why do they not come out of committee?
And then when we get to the proposals, look at the proposals.
In the red, we have the deficit: $1.5 trillion. Maybe $1.6 trillion.
Here we have the proposals. The other side, you can't even see without a magnifying glass. $6 Billion.
We borrow $4 billion in one day. We spend $10 billion in one day. And the best they can do is $6 billion for a whole year?
Our proposal is a little bit better, but still doesn't touch the problem. $61 billion in cuts sounds like a lot of money. But you know what? We increase spending by $700 billion. And now we're going to nibble away at $61 billion.
But put it in perspective: saving $61 billion on $1.5 trillion means that either proposal, Republican or Democrat, is going to add trillions of dollars to the deficit.
I'm proposing something a little more bold. I'm proposing $200 billion in cuts. I think it's the very least we can do. $200 Billion in cuts can be gotten rather easily.
The Government Accountability Office said there's $100 billion in waste, duplicative programs.
Why don't we cut that? What are we doing?
If you look at the charts of what's going on here and you say what's happened to spending, the yellow line, around 2008 when we got the current administration, is going up exponentially.
That's the spending that's going up.
The spending is driving the deficit.
You look at the two lines over, you can't even see the difference.
This is the Republican proposal to cut $61 billion in proposed increases. Spending's still going up. The deficit is going up. We need to do more.
The danger is if we do nothing, then we may well face a debt crisis in our country. We need to do more.
My amendment will cut $200 billion in spending.
And when I go home and I talk to the grassroots voters, they say that's not even enough.
We need more.
But At the very least, let's have a significant cut in spending and do something to get the deficit under control before it's too late.
Thank you.