GOP Unveils Plan To Massively Cut Spending

By Rachel Whitt

House Republicans announced lofty plans on Thursday to slash the federal budget by $2.5 trillion over the next ten years. 

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who chairs the conservative Republican Study Committee, held a press conference to unveil legislation aimed at reducing non-defense discretionary spending to pre-2008 levels. The spending cuts being proposed in the House would take effect immediately, and would slice about $50 billion in fiscal year 2011. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) is reported to be working on a companion bill in the upper chamber.

Cutting as much as $250 billion on an annual scale, however, could prove to be tricky. According to figures compiled by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, total discretionary spending in fiscal year 2010 hovered near $1.3 trillion. Of that sum, roughly $600 billion was spent on security; Jordan’s plan would only target non-security spending. With President Obama expected to propose a total budget of over $1.3 trillion again in 2011, Republicans would have to cut spending by one-third in the current fiscal year.

While Jordan did not address specifics of his proposal on Thursday, he argued that reducing spending levels would shrink the nation’s debt — nearly $14 trillion — and would directly trigger job growth in the immediate future.

“If you reduce federal government spending,” Jordan said, “you help create jobs, you help foster a framework and an environment where the real job creators…can improve our economy.” 

The Spending Reduction Act of 2011 would, among other things, eliminate funding to more than 100 programs, reform federal workforce entitlements, and bar any unspent stimulus funds from being allocated.