Miller Message

On Monday, President Obama released his budget request for fiscal year 2012, and it offers more spending, more taxes, and more of the same failed policies that have been in place over the past two years. Total spending proposed for the year would be $3.75 trillion dollars, almost 25 percent of our country’s gross domestic product and the highest level of GDP since World War II. The federal deficit for 2012 alone would be another $1.1 trillion, and over the next decade our national debt would grow by over $13 trillion.

We cannot continue to borrow, tax, and spend with a national fiscal crisis looming on the horizon, and we must take action now to stop the runaway spending that has plagued Washington, DC. Republicans have a plan to reduce the federal budget – not in five years, not next year, but this year.

This week Republicans brought to the floor and passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the government for the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year. Congress has been forced for several years to pass these stop-gap resolutions to provide federal funding, but this is the first time in history that a CR actually reduces federal spending. It includes the largest non-security spending cut in history, and it fulfills our promise to cut federal spending by over $100 billion this year.

And for the first time in a long time, the House of Representatives debated a bill under an "open rule" for debate, allowing any Member from either party to offer an amendment to the Continuing Resolution. Members offered hundreds of amendments to further reduce federal spending beyond the amount in the bill text. Amendments ranged from small program cuts of several million dollars to proposals for across-the-board cuts to the entire non-security spending portion of the bill by an additional $20 billion.

Floor debate went late into the night each day, and despite attempts by the minority to filibuster and to delay, we succeeded in passing a 2011 funding bill that cuts more than $100 billion—well over $100 billion smaller than the President’s budget request. It contains no earmarks, and in fact, rescinds funding for more than $8 billion in last year’s earmarks. The CR also rescinds $2 billion from unspent stimulus money.

The passage of the Continuing Resolution in the House is a vital first step in putting our country back on a sustainable fiscal path. We cannot afford to wait any longer to take care of this crisis. Although the Senate and the President have balked at the cuts in CR, the American people called for a change in direction for our country, and the time has come to make good on those promises to secure our nation’s future for the next generation.

Cutting the budget is not a Republican issue or a Democrat issue. This is an American issue. Every government department needs to tighten its belt and resolve this issue now. We’ve made a significant down payment on reducing federal spending by passing the 2011 CR, but this is just the beginning. We will continue by making cuts to the 2012 budget in the coming weeks. We will keep our promise, and we will fight to get this country back on track.