As Deficit Climbs to $1.5 Trillion, No Budget in Sight, Lewis Calls For a “Clean” Supplemental with Spending Offsets

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As Congress begins to move on an emergency spending package for the military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan and disaster assistance, House Appropriations Ranking Republican Jerry Lewis warned against including extraneous funding or unrelated policy items, and urged Democrat leaders to keep the bill “clean.” Lewis also indicated his support for finding offsets for spending included in the legislation.

 

“Just yesterday we learned that our national deficit has risen to over $1.5 trillion. Today, we learned that the House Democrats are completely disregarding one of the most basic duties of Congress and are not going to produce a basic budget blueprint this year – for the first time in 30 years. And, in the midst of this, Democrat leaders are crafting a huge emergency spending bill which will cost billions in taxpayer dollars.

 

“We must take immediate action – starting with this supplemental – to put Uncle Sam on a diet.

 

“Adding billions in unrelated or unnecessary spending to a troop funding and disaster assistance bill is totally irresponsible and will make our skyrocketing $1.5 trillion deficit even worse. We must keep this supplemental “clean” and stop the explosion of government spending under the guise of “emergencies” that has become the crutch of this Democrat-led Congress.

 

“Even funding for true emergencies should be considered with an eye towards saving taxpayer dollars. With billions in unspent “stimulus” and other funding sloshing around in federal coffers, it makes sense to use it to offset some of our critical and unexpected needs,” Lewis said.