Tuesday
Jan262010
McCain, Bayh Heed Obama's Call To Freeze Spending
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 2:14PM
Ask and you shall receive.
Just one day after White House officials announced that President Barack Obama will soon call for a freeze on federal non-discretionary spending, Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Even Bayh (D-Ind.) introduced The Fiscal Freeze Act of 2010.
“We have to stand with those who are paying the bills and show that the government can discipline itself and make the difficult decisions just as families as businesses do each and every day, and in so doing perhaps began the process of rehabilitating the reputation of the government in the minds of the people,” said Bayh.
Bayh, who earlier in the day learned that he will not be facing popular conservative Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) in his Senate re-election race this fall, said that the bipartisan bill would focus on imposing a moratorium on earmark spending and would create a new trust fund-esque deficit reduction account. The legislation would also include protections against potential government shutdowns, he added.
The releasing of the bill comes as the Senate awaits a vote on whether or not to raise the nation’s debt ceiling another $1.9 trillion, from roughly $12.4 trillion to $14.3 trillion. Critics have called on the Obama administration to cut spending for weeks, and it appears now that those calls are getting through.
However, on the day before President Obama delivers his State of the Union address to Congress, there is more buzz now surrounding the deficit than at any other time in his presidency. Much of that has to do with the fact that Congress’s $787 stimulus bill, while increasing the nation's debt, has had essentially no positive effect on the country’s unemployment rate. Coupled with a roughly $900 billion healthcare reform bill that still has an outside shot of passing, it’s become clear that the administration has thus far prioritized spending to help grow a struggling economy over balancing a ballooning federal budget.
But McCain, who lost to Obama in the 2008 election, said Tuesday that the budget can be fixed if enough Members are willing to tackle the problem.
“The reaction to this is gonna be, ‘it’s too hard, you cant do it,’ well look...to say we can’t do it and it’s too hard neglects the realities of the incredible dramatic increase in spending.”
Just one day after White House officials announced that President Barack Obama will soon call for a freeze on federal non-discretionary spending, Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Even Bayh (D-Ind.) introduced The Fiscal Freeze Act of 2010.
“We have to stand with those who are paying the bills and show that the government can discipline itself and make the difficult decisions just as families as businesses do each and every day, and in so doing perhaps began the process of rehabilitating the reputation of the government in the minds of the people,” said Bayh.
Bayh, who earlier in the day learned that he will not be facing popular conservative Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) in his Senate re-election race this fall, said that the bipartisan bill would focus on imposing a moratorium on earmark spending and would create a new trust fund-esque deficit reduction account. The legislation would also include protections against potential government shutdowns, he added.
The releasing of the bill comes as the Senate awaits a vote on whether or not to raise the nation’s debt ceiling another $1.9 trillion, from roughly $12.4 trillion to $14.3 trillion. Critics have called on the Obama administration to cut spending for weeks, and it appears now that those calls are getting through.
However, on the day before President Obama delivers his State of the Union address to Congress, there is more buzz now surrounding the deficit than at any other time in his presidency. Much of that has to do with the fact that Congress’s $787 stimulus bill, while increasing the nation's debt, has had essentially no positive effect on the country’s unemployment rate. Coupled with a roughly $900 billion healthcare reform bill that still has an outside shot of passing, it’s become clear that the administration has thus far prioritized spending to help grow a struggling economy over balancing a ballooning federal budget.
But McCain, who lost to Obama in the 2008 election, said Tuesday that the budget can be fixed if enough Members are willing to tackle the problem.
“The reaction to this is gonna be, ‘it’s too hard, you cant do it,’ well look...to say we can’t do it and it’s too hard neglects the realities of the incredible dramatic increase in spending.”
Spending Freeze Will Only Affect Some Programs, Says White House Official
Not everyone will feel the wrath of President Barack Obama’s three-year spending freeze, said Rob Nabors, Deputy Director of the White House's Office of Management and Budget.
“When we talk about the freeze, this is not an across the board cut,” Nabors said Tuesday during a conference call with reporters.
Nabors said that only the programs that have stalled, are not achieving their mission and those of lower priority will be subject to the President’s proposed freeze.
“We made a series of decisions where some programs are actually getting increases, some programs are getting decreased,” he said. “We’re looking at programs individually.”
When asked if Congress will be able to tackle a job creation bill in the nine months before the freeze takes effect at the beginning of FY2011 in October, Nabors responded, “yes, we will be able to put people back to work and make sure that the economy is growing.”