More Spending Increases Dominate Energy and Water Funding Bill

Apr 12, 2011

Press Release

More Spending Increases Dominate Energy and Water Funding Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Appropriations Ranking Republican Jerry Lewis today opposed legislation considered in an Energy and Water Appropriations subcommittee mark up, saying that it is loaded with too much spending at a time when the country cannot afford it. The bill would fund federal agencies under the subcommittee’s jurisdiction for the next fiscal year, and contains over $34.6 billion in spending, which is $1.2 billion over last year’s level. In addition, many of the programs funded in the bill have already received more than $44 billion in taxpayer dollars from last year’s “stimulus” bill – more than $7 billion of which still sitting unused.

“It is impossible to imagine any responsible and sustainable budget scenario for the nation with the kind of spending that is in the Energy and Water Appropriations bill. We should be rolling back the massive increases in funding for these programs, including the hundreds of billions included in the ‘stimulus’ bill, not piling on yet another billion-plus to already bloated government agencies,” Lewis said.

Subcommittee Ranking Member Rodney Frelinghuysen echoed Lewis’s statements, saying that spending for many of the agencies and programs in the bill could be cut significantly – saving billions in taxpayer dollars and while still maintaining effective and necessary programs and services.

“Today’s mark-up provided us with an opportunity to show that we were serious about fiscal responsibility. Unfortunately, this Energy and Water Appropriations bill is just more Washington ‘business as usual.’ The American people deserve better than runaway spending, higher taxes, and more borrowing against our children’s future,” Frelinghuysen said.

To address high spending levels and other concerns in the bill, Republicans offered the following amendments today in the subcommittee mark up:

1.) Ranking Member Lewis (R-CA) and Rep. Rehberg (R-MT) offered an amendment to cut the overall total of the bill by 3.5% or $1.2 billion. This cut would bring the total spending in the legislation back to last year’s level, and would demonstrate a significant commitment to reducing unnecessary government spending.

The amendment was defeated by Subcommittee Democrats on a vote of 6-10.

Rep. Pastor (D-AZ), Rep. Edwards (D-TX), Rep. Berry (D-AR), Rep. Fattah (D-PA), Rep. Israel (D-NY), Rep. Olver (D-MA), Rep. Davis (D-TN), Rep. Salazar (D-CO), Rep. Murphy (D-PA), and Chairman Obey (D-WI) all voted to oppose the amendment.

Subcommittee Ranking Member, Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), Rep. Wamp (R-TN), Rep. Simpson (R-ID), Rep. Rehberg (R-MT), Rep. Calvert (R-CA), Rep. Alexander (R-LA), and Ranking Member Lewis all voted in favor of the amendment.

2.) Rep. Calvert (R-CA) offered an amendment (after the failure of the Lewis amendment) to cut the overall total of the bill by 1.75% or $606 million. Even though the amendment would reduce the bill by a small percentage, it would have demonstrated the Subcommittee’s commitment to cutting some of the massive spending increases approved by the Democrat Congress over the last three years.

The amendment was defeated by Subcommittee Democrats on a vote of 6-10.