Jason Smith: An important step toward restoring fiscal sanity in Washington

(From Eighth District Congressman Jason Smith)

It’s no secret that President Joe Biden and Washington Democrats have a spending problem. 

In a matter of just two years, they spent a record-breaking $10 trillion on ridiculous things like welfare for the wealthy and handouts to radical environmentalists. 

After maxing out our nation’s credit card far sooner than anyone expected, they had the nerve to demand Republicans give them a blank check debt limit increase so they can continue wasting trillions of dollars to advance their radical agenda. Are you kidding me?

Instead of caving to the Left’s demands, we successfully forced Biden’s hand and delivered relief from many of the major crises working-class families are facing because of this administration’s policies. While the Fiscal Responsibility Act isn’t perfect, it is a major shake-up to business as usual in Washington.

First and foremost, the Fiscal Responsibility Act delivers the largest spending cut in the history of our nation. For the first time since I’ve been in Washington, Congress sent a bill to the president’s desk that reduces spending. The bill will help restore fiscal sanity in Washington by cutting over $2 trillion in government spending, while fully funding defense and veterans programs, Social Security, and Medicare. This is also the largest recissions package in the history of our nation, clawing back more than $28 billion in funding that Washington Democrats previously allocated to fight COVID. In fact, this bill rescinds more money than all previous rescissions combined.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act will also help lift Americans out of poverty and get people back to work. The legislation makes the most significant reforms to welfare and food stamp programs in decades with the addition of true work requirements, helping all the small businesses on Main Street with ‘Help Wanted’ signs out front. Thanks to the Fiscal Responsibility Act, we’ll reduce poverty, save taxpayer dollars, and alleviate the worker shortage that’s devastating Main Street.

Interestingly, of all the policies included in the bill, nothing drew more ire from Congressional Democrats than the major improvements to the burdensome and costly permitting process for major energy and infrastructure projects. Anyone who has worked on one of these projects knows that Washington red tape can tie up projects for years. It is estimated that about 20 to 30% of total project funding is lost to red tape. By getting rid of costly and unnecessary regulations, we’ll reduce wasteful spending and put federal dollars to work faster on projects that will boost American-made energy and modernize our transportation system.

With the Fiscal Responsibility Act, we’re also taking much-needed steps to rein in Biden’s trillion-dollar executive spending spree. Since he took office, Biden’s executive actions have cost taxpayers more than $1.5 trillion. Under this bill, Biden can’t issue executive actions that cost over $100 million unless he can find dollar-for-dollar savings in other government programs.

I’ve heard some say that this bill lifts the debt ceiling by $4 trillion, but that’s just not true. You can read the bill yourself – unlike so many Swamp products, this bill is only 99 pages long. When you read it, you will see that nowhere in the bill does it specify how much debt is being issued. As a matter of fact, almost 20 pages of the bill are dedicated solely to clawing back wasteful government dollars on behalf of the American taxpayer. I am hopeful that with a Congress dedicated to fiscal responsibility, we can drastically reduce the COVID-era deficits that our nation has accumulated.

Thomas Jefferson once said, “The ground of liberty is to be gained by inches, that we must be contented to secure what we can get from time to time, and eternally press forward for what is yet to get.” While Republicans couldn’t get everything we wanted in this bill, it brings us closer to undoing all the damage Washington Democrats have caused over the last two years. By refusing to cave to the Left’s demands, we delivered a bill that includes the largest spending cut in American history, the biggest reforms to the permitting process and welfare and food stamp programs in decades, and so much more. But the fight is far from over. I’ll continue working around-the-clock to make sure Congress enacts fiscally responsible bills that reduce our spending-driven deficits and get our nation back on track.