Press Releases

House Passes Continuing Resolution to Fund the Government for the Rest of the Fiscal Year

U.S. Congressman Bill Flores (R-Texas) voted today to pass the largest non-defense spending cut in American history. The spending agreement between Congress and President Obama, H.R. 1473 includes nearly $40 billion in spending cuts for the remainder of fiscal year 2011. As a result of these cuts, total spending will be $78 billion less than what the President requested last year be spent in fiscal year 2011. Flores released the following statement today regarding his vote to cut spending and keep the government open:

“Today I voted in support of the long-term continuing resolution, H.R. 1473, to ensure that our military men and women continue to receive their pay, to avoid a government shutdown and to cut spending for the remainder of the fiscal year and beyond. Now we can finally move past cleaning up the budget mess left to us by the last Congress and move forward to restore fiscal sanity in Washington. This resolution will implement the largest non-defense spending cut in American history, putting us on the path to restoring certainty to our economy and creating a better environment for private sector job growth.

“House Republicans successfully negotiated nearly $40 billion in federal spending cuts for the rest of this fiscal year, just months after President Obama asked Congress for a spending ‘freeze’ that would mean zero cuts. While these cuts we voted on today are historic, they are not nearly enough to cure our nation’s spending-driven debt crisis and they represent only a fraction of the problem. The people sent a message to Washington last November to cut spending, create jobs and grow the economy, and that message was heard loud and clear. I came to Washington specifically for this cause, and although this agreement is far from perfect, it is a positive first step.

“Now that we have cleared up the fiscal year 2011 spending mess, we can begin to focus on a longer term, comprehensive solution to fix the federal budget for fiscal year 2012 and for decades beyond.  By enacting the Path to Prosperity Republican Budget Committee proposal, we can restore the American Dream for our children and grandchildren.”

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