House Republican Leaders Ask President Obama to Force Congress to Cut Wasteful Spending
WASHINGTON – House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) are asking President Obama to force Congress to cut wasteful Washington spending and pledging bipartisan support for this critical effort.
In a letter to the President, the GOP leaders ask him to invoke his authority under the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to submit specific proposals rescinding spending already in place. Boehner and Cantor pledge that if the President grants their request and chooses to use this authority, which has been invoked 1,178 times by previous presidents, they will introduce each proposal as a stand-alone bill in the House of Representatives.
“Here in the House of Representatives, there is no shortage of opportunities to vote on bills increasing spending or creating new programs, but very seldom do weconsider bills to actually reduce spending or eliminate programs,” Boehner and Cantor write. “Since increasing the debt limit by $290 billion on December 16, the House has not considered one bill to reduce the national debt. And now the House has voted to increase the debt limit by another $1.9 trillion. We believe America can no longer afford to have its elected representatives delay action on proposals to reduce excessive spending.”
By taking this route, President Obama could force Congress to debate the spending reductions he has proposed as part of his budget. If Democrats refuse to act on the bills, the Leaders pledged to seize on the authority in the law that allows 88 House lawmakers to force a floor vote on the rescission bills.
This letter follows a White House meeting in December when Republicans told President Obama that Washington should cut spending now, just as working families and small businesses are. We can begin by repealing ‘stimulus’ spending, using repaid TARP money to reduce the deficit as prescribed by law, and adopting real budget caps that limit federal spending on an annual basis. The American people want Washington Democrats’ unprecedented spending binge to stop, and debating these spending cuts would help do just that.
Since 1974, presidents from both parties have used this authority to submit 1,178 rescissions totaling $76 billion. Congress, under both Democratic and Republican control, has approved 461 of these rescissions totaling $25 billion. President Reagan proposed the highest number of rescission in one year (245 in 1985) and the highest dollar value ($15.4 billion in 1981).
The letter to President Obama is available here.
