Budget Plan Shows GOP Failure To Make Good On Promises, Says Hoyer

By Rachel Christiansen

The number two Democrat in the House said Wednesday that Republicans may have bitten off more than they can chew by making promises last year to reduce the federal budget by $100 billion this year.

Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said that by targeting mainly discretionary spending programs in their upcoming budget plan, GOP lawmakers are merely “pretending” to be serious about deficit reduction. Hoyer said the Republicans’ effort to cut $32 billion worth of spending this year addresses only roughly 14 percent of the overall budget.

“I think there’s a lot of message and not a lot of substance,” he said. “[Spending cuts] ought not to be done in such a way that it undermines the regeneration of the economy.”

Hoyer also blasted a bill introduced under the GOP’s “YouCut” program — which allows members of the public to electronically vote to eliminate or scale back certain programs — that would require the United Nations to return $180 million worth of overpayments that the U.S. has made to the U.N.’s Tax Equalization Fund. The U.N. is supposed to direct that money to American employees to compensate them for taxes they pay on their wages, but instead has been using some of the funds to beef up security at its Manhattan facility.

Citing CBO data on the legislation, Hoyer said it would have “zero” budget effect, calling it an example of “anti-U.N. rhetoric” on the part of Republicans.

“This is a message bill which neither addresses the need for jobs nor in fact has any savings attached to it,” he added.