Our historic national debt is simply unsustainable, endangering our fiscal integrity and threatening to bury future generations under an avalanched of debt. We have a responsibility to the American people to cut our federal deficit and enact a balanced budget. I support a number of provisions that would drastically reduce wasteful government spending and put the nation back on the track toward a balanced budget. 

Improving the Budget Process

The current high-stakes process of passing last minute spending bills is not good for our fiscal house or the responsible management of critical government programs. To end this process, I am a cosponsor of the Biennial Budgeting and Enhanced Oversight Act (H.R. 1065). H.R. 1065 would establish a two-year budgeting cycle in which Congress would complete appropriations for two years in the first year and conduct oversight of federal programs in the second year. This would provide a comprehensive review of federal spending to ensure taxpayer dollars are being used wisely and achieving their ends.

Supporting the Balanced Budget Amendment 

American families have made difficult budgetary decisions to live within their means – it is long past time for government to do the same. I support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution of the United States that would prohibit federal spending for any fiscal year from exceeding total receipts for that fiscal year (except those derived from borrowing), unless explicitly authorized by both bodies of Congress by a three-fifths vote. The amendment would also require a three-fifths vote of each chamber to increase the public debt limit. 

Supporting an Earmark Ban 

Several high-profile and wasteful projects made clear that the earmark process is broken and riddled with scandal. I support the House Republican moratorium on all earmark spending which has been in effect since 2011.  

Supporting the Line-Item Veto 

I support giving the President of the United States the power of the line-item veto. Under this long overdue legislation, the President would have the authority to single out individual spending items in legislation that arrives on his desk for signature and send these specific line items back to Congress for a timely up-or-down vote on whether to rescind these spending provisions. Likewise, the President would be able to request the rescission of narrowly targeted special-interest tax breaks. 

Eliminating the COLA for Members of Congress 

I have repeatedly supported the successful efforts to eliminate the Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLAs) scheduled to be made to Member salaries from 2010 to the present. 

Reducing Congress’s Budget 

I supported the successful Republican resolution to reduce the budgets for Members of Congress and House Committees for 2011 and 2012 by 5 percent across the board. Rightfully so, congressional offices and committees are subject to the across-the-board budget cuts under the sequester that have hit virtually all other federal departments, agencies, and programs.