The U.S. House of Representative has passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which funds the federal government through September 2014.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. House of Representative has passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which funds the federal government through September 2014. Following passage of the appropriations bill, Congressman Bill Flores (R-Texas) issued the following statement:
“Last month, the House and Senate reached a budget agreement to provide our nation with a fiscal path to reduce economic uncertainty during FY 2014 and FY 2015. The House has now taken the next step by appropriating funds to operate the federal government through FY 2014. This bill was far from perfect, but by supporting it we restore order to the government funding process. In particular, it provides much needed stability to our nation’s military operations.
“Some persons and groups have concerns with various individual provisions of the bill. I also share those concerns, however, on balance I believe that a ‘yes’ vote was better for our country and our Texas constituents than a ‘no’ vote. My reading and analysis of the bill reveals that the favorable provisions of the bill outweigh the provisions that were unfavorable and/or the conservative provisions that were missing from the bill.
“When I ran for Congress in 2010, I had the privilege of having former Senator Phil Gramm as a trusted advisor and mentor. One of his principles which we often discussed is that if a piece of legislation moves us in the right direction, we should support it — even if it only moves us an inch or two toward our goals. In today’s environment where conservatives control one-half of one-third of the government, we will sometimes only be able to move an inch or two. While I would prefer to always be able to vote on bills, that completely fulfill my conservative principles, these are not always available for consideration when voting on key issues like funding federal government operations and avoiding government shutdowns.
“This omnibus appropriations bill represents a key promise kept by House Republicans to the American people by taking important steps to restore fiscal sanity in Washington. Accordingly, I was pleased to see that this bill continues to reduce federal spending, by $21.4 billion below last year’s post-sequester spending levels. In fact, since conservatives regained the House majority in 2011, total discretionary spending has been cut by a cumulative total of $165 billion. This performance represents a stark contrast to the $210 billion in spending increases that occurred between 2007 and 2010 when Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid controlled Congress. It is also important to note that this bill reduces discretionary appropriations below the level spent during the final months of George W. Bush’s presidency. Since 2010, the conservative majority in the House of Representatives has been able to cut spending for four years in a row, something that has not been done since the Korean War. While this bill may not contain all of the spending reforms that I feel are needed, it is a step in the right direction, especially given the necessity for bipartisanship to get funding legislation passed through both chambers of Congress.
“This bill provides tough oversight of federal agencies, reduces regulatory burdens, provides for a strong national security and promotes domestic energy production. The agreement protects our military from bearing the brunt of indiscriminate spending cuts, and moves those spending reductions to curtail certain mandatory spending programs. These changes represent small, but necessary steps that allow us to begin making real reforms to these autopilot programs that are the true drivers of our deficits.
“The bill keeps Obamacare funding at post-sequester levels and does not allow for any new funding. It also prohibits the IRS from using funds to target groups based on ideology, it bolsters oversight and increases transparency at the GSA; and it prohibits the NSA from using funds to acquire, store or monitor American citizens’ communications from public service providers.
“In an area of significant importance to Texas District 17, the bill restores funding for basic research to more appropriate levels. This is an issue critical to the success the research activities of the three major research and educational institutions that have footprints in our district – Texas A&M University, Baylor University and The University of Texas. These institutions conduct important research activities that become the ‘seed corn’ of knowledge and discovery for future economic growth.
"When House Republicans passed our first ‘Path to Prosperity’ budget in 2011, we pledged to put an end to budget gimmicks, accounting tricks and needless waste. We have now passed an appropriations bill that includes no earmarks. By comparison, the March 2009 spending bill President Obama signed into law included approximately 9,000 earmarks.
“Additionally, in response to concerns related to a provision related to retirement pay for disabled military retirees that were included in the recent bi-partisan budget bill – this bill reverses that provision.
“Most importantly, the omnibus appropriations bill eliminates the ‘Continuing Resolutions’ (CR) that Congress has used to fund the federal government over the past few years. These CR’s, which contain little detail as to how taxpayer dollars are spent, essentially give a blank check to the Obama Administration and they constrain Congress’ ability to force the Administration to follow the law. This bill restores Congress’ Constitutional role as the branch of government which sets spending priorities, placing Congress in a stronger position to require the Obama Administration to follow the Constitution and the law. In addition, passage of this appropriations bill moves us into a direction to follow the process known as ‘Regular Order’ which allows Congress to carry-out the annual appropriations process in a fair, open and transparent manner.
"In summary, this funding bill is imperfect. Nonetheless, House conservatives understand that our current path is unsustainable and that we have a moral obligation to reset our nation’s fiscal course to restore America’s promise, prosperity and security for future generations. We have aspired to achieve this goal since I was elected to Congress and this vote is another step to puts that talk into action."
Congressman Bill Flores represents the 17th District of Texas and is an entrepreneur, former energy executive, Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and member of the House Budget, Natural Resources and Veterans’ Affairs Committees.
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