Congress Strikes a Budget Deal to Avert Shutdown, Cutting $38.5B - Patriot Action Network

Congress Strikes a Budget Deal to Avert Shutdown, Cutting $38.5B - Patriot Action Network

Courtesy of the Speaker’s Office: Summary and Talking Points on Bipartisan Agreement on Spending Cuts to Support American Job Creation

SUMMARY: BIPARTISAN AGREEMENT ON SPENDING CUTS TO SUPPORT AMERICAN JOB CREATION

• THE LARGEST SPENDING CUT IN AMERICAN HISTORY. The agreement will immediately cut $38.5 billion in federal spending – the largest spending cut in American history in terms of dollars – just months after President Obama asked Congress for a spending “freeze” that would mean zero cuts.

• HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS IN SPENDING CUTS OVER THE NEXT DECADE. The agreement will cut hundreds of billions of dollars from the federal budget over the next decade – “real money,” as the Wall Street Journal editorial board recently noted.

• OFFICIALLY ENDS THE “STIMULUS” SPENDING BINGE. The agreement begins to reverse the “stimulus” spending binge that began in 2009 – signaling the official end of a period of unprecedented government intervention that former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan and other economists say hurt job creation in America by crowding out private investment.

• SETS STAGE FOR TRILLIONS MORE IN SPENDING CUTS. Clears the way for congressional action on House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget – The Path to Prosperity – which cuts trillions in spending and offers a long-term blueprint for American job creation.

• GUARANTEES SENATE VOTE ON REPEAL OF OBAMACARE. The agreement reached with Senate Democrats guarantees a Senate debate and vote on legislation that would repeal President Obama’s government takeover of health care in its entirety. The House passed such legislation in January as part of the Pledge to America.

• NEW TOOLS IN THE FIGHT TO REPEAL OBAMACARE. The agreement will generate new tools for the fight to repeal Obamacare by requiring numerous studies that will force the Obama Administration to reveal the true impact of the law’s mandates, including a study of how individuals and families will see increased premiums as a result of certain Obamacare mandates; a full audit of all the waivers that the Obama Administration has given to firms and organizations – including unions - who can't meet the new annual coverage limits; a full audit of what's happening with the comparative effectiveness research funding that was in Obamacare and the president’s failed “stimulus” spending bill; and a report on all of the contractors who have been hired to implement the law and the costs to taxpayers of such contracts.

• DENIES ADDITIONAL FUNDING TO THE IRS. The Obama administration has sought increased federal funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) – money that could be used to hire additional agents to enforce the administration’s agenda on a variety of issues. This increased funding is denied in the agreement.

• GUARANTEES SENATE VOTE & DEBATE ON DE-FUNDING PLANNED PARENTHOOD. The agreement with Senate Democrats guarantees a Senate debate and vote on legislation that would end federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

• BANS TAXPAYER FUNDING OF ABORTION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. The agreement includes a complete ban on federal funding of abortion in the District of Columbia, applying the pro-life principles of the Hyde Amendment (“D.C. Hyde”).

• MANDATORY AUDITS OF THE NEW JOB-CRUSHING BUREAUCRACY SET UP UNDER DODD-FRANK. The agreement subjects the so-called Consumer Financial Protection Bureau created by the job-destroying Dodd-Frank law to yearly audits by both the private sector and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to monitor its impact on the economy, including its impact on jobs, by examining whether sound cost-benefit analyses are being used with rulemakings.

TALKING POINTS: BIPARTISAN AGREEMENT ON SPENDING CUTS

• The American people have just won the largest real dollar spending cut in American history. To help create a better environment for job creation, House Republicans successfully negotiated $38.5 billion in Washington spending cuts for this year just months after President Obama asked Congress for a spending “freeze” that would mean zero cuts.

• These cuts are historic. They represent the largest year-to-year spending cut since World War II.

• The cuts in spending for this year represent almost two-thirds of those contained in H.R. 1. The agreement shows the American people that the Republicans they sent to Washington did what they said they would do by fighting President Obama and Senator Harry Reid over the spending trajectory in this country.

• This agreement cuts hundreds of billions of dollars from the federal budget over the next decade.

• While these cuts are historic, they are woefully inadequate to cure our nation’s spending-drive debt crisis because they represent only a fraction of the problem. However, House Republicans have struck a historic blow to the culture of spending in Washington.

• These cuts are critical because they represent the first step to taking our nation off the path to national bankruptcy, to giving employers the confidence they need to expand their businesses, and to sparing our children of lives indebted to the Chinese.

• The reality is that House Republicans control one-half of three branches of government in Washington, and President Obama and Washington Democrats have fought our efforts to cut spending every step of the way.

• We fought to keep the government open so we could cut spending. They wanted to shut the government down to keep spending money we don’t have.

• We have to stop spending money we don’t have. We have to stop borrowing 42 cents on the dollar, much of it from the Chinese, and sending the bill to our children and grandchildren.

• If families across America have to tighten their belts, Washington should do the same.

• We didn’t get into this crisis overnight, and we will not get out of it overnight. That is why House Republicans will now advance our fight from saving billions of dollars to saving trillions of dollars as we turn our focus in earnest to Chairman Paul Ryan’s Path to Prosperity budget.