By Congressman Daniel Webster, June 21, 2023                                    

A Step Toward Less Government Spending

In June, something happened in Congress that hasn’t happened since 2014.  Congress passed and the President signed into law legislation that forces Congress to spend LESS this year than it did last year. 

My 23rd grandson was born earlier this year. He came into the world already having captured the hearts of his grandparents and with a $95,000 bill from Washington – his portion of America’s debt. Would I have liked the bill to require deeper cuts? Absolutely! But I owed it to my grandchildren, my constituents and their grandchildren to not let perfect be the enemy of good. 

Before deciding to support the Fiscal Responsibility Act, I spent 72 hours reviewing the bill text and running the numbers to make sure they added up to a spending cut.

• This bill does not authorize new spending. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reduces the deficit by $2.1 trillion over 6 years. 
• It limits defense spending to $868.349 billion and nondefense spending to $703.651 billion for Fiscal Year 2024, similar to the Limit, Save Grow Act that House Republicans overwhelmingly passed in April. These numbers protect Social Security, Medicare and Veterans benefits - all things very important to many of my constituents.
• The bill rescinds $1.4 billion slated to be spent this year Biden’s IRS army. 
• It also rescinds nearly $30 billion that was allocated for COVID-related items. 
• It also requires welfare reform, for the first time in 10 years, which reduces mandatory spending. Given mandatory spending is one of the largest drivers of the national debt this is a good step in the right direction.
• This bill includes reforms to the energy and infrastructure permitting process that Republicans have been trying to pass for years. Liberal environmentalist’s weaponization of the permit review process is costing trillions of taxpayer dollars. The changes in this bill both save taxpayer dollars and allows projects to move forward that will provide high-paying jobs and help stimulate the economy.
• Restarts student loan payments that the Biden Administration has been blocking – costing taxpayers up to $5 billion a month.

I disagree with those who argue that to vote no would have forced more cuts.  Republicans only barely control one of the three entities that have a say in this. We successfully moved President Biden and Democrats in Congress, who have spent more than even the proverbial drunken sailor could envision, from demanding a clean debt ceiling to accepting spending cuts, welfare reform and rescinding this year's money for his IRS army. 

Failure to pass this bill would’ve put the U.S. on a trajectory towards default, which would jeopardize the retirement accounts of thousands of my constituents. Many of them depend on these investments to cover their costs of living. 

As noted, this bill only rescinds funding, it does not provide additional spending – new spending will be determined by the upcoming appropriations bills we must pass by September 30. 

That is the next fight, and this bill gives fiscal conservatives leverage. 

A provision in H.R.2376 mandates another spending cut if Congress fails to pass 12 appropriations bills. I and my good friend Congressman Massie have been loud and often minority voices for Congress to adhere to regular order when developing government spending bills. A flawed process will create a flawed product andcompelling Congressional leaders to restore a thoughtful, thorough appropriations process is a big win!