Tide of Unsustainable Deficit Spending Continues - Transportation, Housing Appropriations Bill Approved by House

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House today approved the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) funding legislation for the next fiscal year. The bill contains $67.4 billion in spending, which is $500 million below the previous year. However, the bill was increased last year by a whopping 23%.

 

House Appropriations Ranking Republican Jerry Lewis opposed the legislation, saying that the country cannot afford this level of spending in the midst of unprecedented national deficits and debt and a struggling economy. Republicans on the Appropriations Committee had previously offered an overall spending proposal to cut Appropriations allocations for fiscal year 2011, including limiting spending in the THUD bill to $65 billion, or 4% below last year’s level. This would have saved taxpayers more than $2 billion compared to the House Democrats’ legislation.

 

“While transportation and housing programs are important, now is not the time to continue to pour billions in unnecessary spending into programs that have already benefited from huge funding increases over the last three years. We need to start reining in spending now, and a 4% reduction in the THUD bill from last year is a relatively small but meaningful action to help put us on a more sustainable budget path,” Lewis said.

 

Lewis indicated that the public will not stand for this continued, unrestrained spending, and that Americans are calling on Congress to dial back sky-rocketing deficits and debt that are putting a damper on economic recovery and job creation.

 

 “This transportation and housing bill is the last Appropriations bill that the House will consider before the August work period. Yet, instead of approving responsible funding for our nation’s important infrastructure needs, Democrats have instead chosen to shove through yet another bloated spending bill that will place untenable financial burdens on generations to come,” Lewis said.

 

 “The message from the American people has been crystal clear – they do not want and cannot afford this tide of unsustainable deficit spending that is hurting our recovery and curbing new jobs. Perhaps when these Democrat members return to their districts, they’ll hear this message a little louder,” he continued.