Historic Cuts Change Washington's Spending Culture

The American people won a big battle in the late evening hours of Friday, April 8th when Republicans reached an agreement with the White House and Senate Democrats that will save taxpayers $78.5 billion compared to the president’s projected 2011 budget. While this budget represents the largest cut in spending in American history, my colleagues and I know it is just a mere first-step towards what is needed to get our fiscal house in order.

The American people made it clear during last election that the status quo is no longer acceptable, and that more of the same will not be tolerated.  The debate over the budget for the rest of Fiscal year 2011 – a budget that Democrats failed to pass last year – has effectively changed the direction of spending conversations in America. A Democrat President and the Democrat leaders in the Senate, who initially wanted to increase discretionary spending this year, are now touting these historic spending cuts. This change of attitude has laid the foundation and set the parameters for the debate we will now have over shaping the budget for 2012 and beyond.

Additionally, President Obama, who released a budget in February that failed to address or even recognize the dire fiscal situation we are in, has indicated he will release a proposal to address our long-term debt problem (or, in other words, a budget do-over).

Republicans now have the ability to continue these debates not by talking about cutting billions of dollars, but trillions of dollars.

This is a win for the American people.

For this reason, I support my colleague Paul Ryan’s “Path to Prosperity”, a FY 2012 budget proposal that will cut 6.2 trillion in spending from the president's budget over the next 10 years. Representative Ryan’s budget proposal has many bold and innovative ideas for restoring fiscal sanity to the Federal Government.

In my opinion, the most encouraging thing to take away from the budget debate is the fact that the American public wants to have a serious conversation about fiscal responsibility in government.  The fight over this Continuing Resolution has demonstrated that if the Democrats in Congress wish to stay relevant in this fact-based conversation about how the Federal Government will live within its means, they will have to get serious about cutting spending and work with us in making difficult budgetary decisions.