Status Quo

House lawmakers today passed legislation that would allow the continued funding of government operations at 2010 levels for an additional 15 days beyond the current Dec. 3 deadline. Republicans opposed to the bill argue the additional time should give the Democrat-controlled House a chance to pass a massive, trillion-dollar "omnibus" spending package for fiscal year 2011.

House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Jerry Lewis (R-CA) didn't like the measure. According to a statement he delivered earlier today on the House floor:

As I have made clear time and time again, I am strongly, unequivocally opposed to any potential omnibus spending bill the Democrat leadership may be planning to bring to the House floor before the end of the year. Likewise, I remain adamantly opposed to extending the CR for the balance of the fiscal year at current spending levels which are, frankly, too darn high.

Instead of this last ditch effort by the Democrat majority to give themselves more time to spend taxpayer dollars, Congress should extend the CR until the next Congress. This would allow the new House Republican majority to begin putting our Nation’s fiscal house in order by completing the Fiscal Year 2011 Appropriations bills at 2008 levels, saving taxpayers $100 billion. In addition, we should immediately pass my bill, the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Rescission Act" (HR 6403), to rescind billions of dollars of unspent federal "stimulus" funding and apply it to deficit reduction.

At a time of historic deficits, record debt, and ten percent unemployment, I believe we owe our constituents more than the status quo. The message from the American people is loud and clear -- they want us to stop the explosion of government spending that is hurting our economy and our financial future.