Rogers: Continuing Resolution (CR) Contains Historic Spending Cuts, Funding for Troops and Federal Programs
Washington,
Apr 14, 2011 -
Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers today offered legislation on the floor of the House that contains historic spending cuts of nearly $40 billion – the largest single non-defense cut in history. The Continuing Resolution (CR) will also fund the nation’s military and federal government operations for the remainder of the fiscal year. The passage of the bill in the House and Senate will mark the end of an arduous and long-overdue budget process initiated by the failure of the previous Democrat-controlled Congress to pass a budget or enact a single one of the 12 annual Appropriations bills last year.
The floor statement by Chairman Rogers on the final CR follows:
“Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to bring to the floor today H.R. 1473 – the Full-Year Spending Agreement for Fiscal Year 2011.
“This final CR makes nearly $40 billion of real spending cuts compared to FY 2010 levels, while funding the government’s critical services and programs and supporting our nation’s troops for the rest of this fiscal year.
“After weeks of hard-fought negotiations, all sides were able to come together in this final agreement to find common ground and take steps to help balance our budget.
“This legislation is a bold move for Congress – one that points us in the right direction on federal spending. Never before has any Congress made dramatic cuts such as those that are in this final bill. The near $40 billion reduction in non-defense spending is tens of billions larger than any other cut in history, and is the result of this new Republican majority’s commitment to bring about real change in the way Washington spends the people’s money.
“My committee went line-by-line through agency budgets to execute the agreement reached by our Speaker, crafting deep but responsible reductions in virtually all areas of government. Our bill targets wasteful and duplicative spending, makes strides to rein in out-of-control federal bureaucracies, and will help bring our nation one step closer to eliminating our job-crushing level of debt.
“This led to the following cuts from the President’s budget request: Agriculture accounts were reduced by 14%; Commerce, Justice and Science by 12%; Energy and Water by 10%; Financial Services and General Government by 13%; Interior and Environment by 9%; Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education by 8%; Legislative Branch by 11%; State and Foreign Operations by 15%; and Transportation and HUD by 19%.
“The Department of Defense is funded at $513 billion, a $5 billion increase over FY 2010 funding to provide the necessary resources for our troops and the success of our nation’s military actions.
“In this bill, we’ve defunded Obama Administration “Czars,” ended unsuccessful education programs, advanced efforts to repeal ObamaCare and reduced Congress’ own budget. We’ve also put into place mandatory audits for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, banned taxpayer funding of abortion in Washington, DC, and continued the global fight against terrorism.
“In addition, with this legislation we have ended the stimulus spending spree, and have taken the next step to cutting trillions of dollars in the years to come. We stood by our commitment to eliminate earmarks, terminated unnecessary and ineffective programs and made real spending cuts that will help right our fiscal ship.
“And, we will continue to hold the government to a standard of responsible, sustainable spending in the future. Our goal is and has been to keep precious tax payer dollars where they are needed most – in the hands of businesses and individuals so they can create jobs and grow our economy.
“I hope, Mr. Speaker, that my colleagues will take the opportunity to support this historic bill, and finally close the book on the fiscal year 2011 budget.”
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