RSS
December 17, 2011 – Today, Congress approved cutting spending in fiscal year 2012 by 5.2 percent for Senate and House office budgets and a handful of Capitol Hill agencies in bipartisan legislation pushed by Nebraska’s Senator Ben Nelson.
“Nebraskans say they want Washington to cut spending, and today Congress delivered by passing my bipartisan plan that makes real cuts in our own budgets,” said Senator Nelson. “Working with my colleagues on both chambers of the Capitol, we’ve led by example to show how Washington can cut spending sensibly and begin to bring down the national debt.
“Our motto – to paraphrase Harry Truman –is `The Buck Shrinks Here,’” said Nelson.
Nelson is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Legislative Branch Subcommittee. It oversees spending for Congress and Capitol Hill agencies such as the Capitol Police, the Library of Congress, the Government Printing Office, the Architect of the Capitol, the Congressional Budget Office and the Government Accountability Office.
He has worked with Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., the ranking member on the subcommittee, and their House counterparts, to push through a Legislative Branch bill which cuts fiscal year 2012 spending by 5.2 percent from 2011 levels.
“The reality is the bureaucracy never wants to be cut,” Nelson said. “I learned that the eight years we balanced the state budget when I was governor, and I’ve seen it every year in Washington.
“Today, though, with shared sacrifice, by working together, we succeeded in cutting spending by more than $230 million. Our economy and our country will be better because of it,” Nelson added.
The Legislative Branch bill is among nine bills included in the Conference Report on the Consolidated Appropriations Act of Fiscal Year 2012. The House approved that comprehensive bill and averted a possible government shutdown on Friday, December 16th, and the Senate approved it today. It now goes to the President for his signature.
Since Nelson became chairman of the subcommittee several years ago, he held the Legislative Branch spending flat, then reduced it, then cut the Senate’s budget and now is cutting spending across Capitol Hill by 5.2 percent.
Earlier this year, in March, the Senate overwhelmingly approved Sen. Nelson’s Sense of the Senate resolution calling for the Senate to cut its budget by at least 5 percent. The resolution noted that Admiral Mike Mullen, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the greatest threat to America’s security is not terrorism, but its national debt.
“Today’s action in cutting Congresses’ spending should be a model for Washington to continue reining in spending and reduce national debt,” the senator said today. “These are necessary steps to help protect American jobs and our country’s future.”
###