AFP Urges “Big 4” to Address Washington’s Reckless Spending in Budget Talks Today
ARLINGTON, VA – With the top four congressional leaders continuing to meet this afternoon to discuss a two-year budget deal, Americans for Prosperity is urging them to work together to rein in runaway spending with sensible limits that tie discretionary spending growth to a combination of inflation and population increases, and end the broken system of budgeting-by-crisis. In a letter sent to “the Big 4” ahead of Tuesday’s budget talks, the grassroots group expressed concern that lawmakers once again appear ready to bust the spending caps instead of getting the government’s fiscal house in order.
In the letter, AFP Chief Government Affairs Officer Brent Gardner writes:
“We strongly urge you to work together to pursue solutions that curtail runaway spending with sensible limits that allow for reasonable growth in discretionary spending. Instead of smashing through the BCA caps, replace them with a new discretionary spending control that limits spending growth by a combination of inflation and population increase. Getting discretionary spending under control is a necessary first step to giving Americans a more secure future.”
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It is also important to end the practice of budget-by-crisis that leads to last-minute, bloated spending bills, none of which would ever pass without the looming threat of a government shutdown. A sound approach—like Senator Portman’s ‘End Government Shutdown Act’—would require an automatic continuing resolution for any appropriations measure not signed into law by the end of the fiscal year and include important incentives for lawmakers to work together to pass spending bills promptly.
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“Overspending is a cancer in the Capitol…This is the time for action. We call on you to take the necessary first steps now to impose a commonsense limit that spends at last year’s discretionary level adjusted for population and inflation, and to end the budgeting-by-crisis practice with an automatic CR.”
For further information or to set up an interview, please send an email to GCipriano@afphq.org.
Through broad-based grassroots outreach, Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is driving long-term solutions to the country’s biggest problems. AFP activists engage friends and neighbors on key issues and encourage them to take an active role in building a culture of mutual benefit, where people succeed by helping one another. AFP recruits and unites activists in 35 states behind a common goal of advancing policies that will help people improve their lives. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org
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