Tell Your Representatives to Support the Budget Process Reform Package

  • By: FW Staff
  • 02/08/2012

Dear FreedomWorks member,


As one of our million-plus FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your representative and ask him or her support the budget process reform package introduced by members of the House Budget Committee. The comprehensive package of ten legislative reforms will strengthen spending controls, enhance accountability and increase transparency in the federal budget process.


1. The Legally Binding Budget Act, H.R. 3575, would give the budget the force of law by converting it from a concurrent to a joint resolution, which requires the President’s signature.


2. The Spending Control Act, H.R. 3576, would establish binding limitations on federal spending and deficits within each category if the program is growing faster than inflation.


3. The Expedited Line-Item Veto and Rescissions Act, H.R. 3521, would provide for the expedited consideration by Congress of specific requests by the President to reduce discretionary spending in appropriations legislation.


4. The Biennial Budgeting and Enhanced Oversight Act, H.R. 3577, would establish a biennial budgeting cycle where Congress adopts a budget resolution in the first session of Congress (i.e., odd-numbered years) and considers authorization legislation in the second session, providing greater opportunities for review of government spending.


5. The Baseline Reform Act, H.R. 3578, would reform the budget “baseline” to remove automatic inflation increases in discretionary accounts, and to require a comparison to the previous year’s spending levels.


6. The Government Shutdown Prevention Act, H.R. 1255, would provide automatic authority to fund programs at a slightly reduced rate from the previous year’s level, if Congress fails to enact appropriation bills by the beginning of the fiscal year (Oct. 1).


7. The Review Every Dollar Act, H.R. 3579, would require periodic sunset reviews and reauthorization of all federal programs, require transfers from the general fund to the Highway Trust Fund to be offset, remove all direct spending provisions from Pell Grants and require any new rule or regulation to be explicitly funded by Congress.


8. The Balancing our Obligations for the Long Term Act, H.R. 3580, would cap total spending, require GAO and OMB to report annually on the federal government’s unfunded obligations, require CBO long-term estimates beyond the 10-year window and require Congress to review long-term budget trends every five years.


9. The Budget and Accountability Transparency Act, H.R. 3581, would reform the Credit Reform Act to incorporate Fair Value accounting principles, require all federal agencies to make public the budgetary justification materials prepared in support of their requests for taxpayer dollars and require a CBO & OMB study on offsetting receipts.


10. The Pro-Growth Budgeting Act, H.R. 3582, would require the CBO to provide an assessment of the macroeconomic impact of major legislation.


Sincerely,


Matt Kibbe
President and CEO
FreedomWorks
[Click here to see a PDF version of this letter.]

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