YouCut Pushes Obama to Think About, But Do Nothing to Cut Spending

The Obama Administration announced that it will urge government agencies to trim five percent from their budgets by reining in wasteful and duplicative programs – and redirect how that money is spent. Less than 20 minutes later, the Administration’s Budget Chief Peter Orszag admitted that the initiative was as much about spending as it is deficit reduction. To be clear, the Administration did not commit to use those cuts to pay down the deficits.

Look, trimming these budgets is a good thing – as Republicans have said repeatedly. But is giving the heads of these agencies the ability to redirect money really an indication that Washington is prepared to bring our deficits under control before the European debt crisis migrates across the Atlantic? Or is it simply posturing?

The good news is that the administration, at least on the surface, is finally getting the message that the American people are fed up with the reckless culture of spending prevailing over Washington. America has soured on an agenda that sets out to double the debt in five years and triple it in 10. That is why we launched YouCut, an effort to begin to transform the culture in Washington from one focused entirely on spending to one that forces measures to cut waste and save money.

Now, after more than 700,000 YouCut votes have been cast to remove specific wasteful spending items in the budget, and three House votes later (that would have saved $85 billion had enough Democrats supported them), the President is beginning to talk about finding ways to save taxpayer money.

To be sure, we welcome the administration’s calls for austerity in government agencies. We also support the president’s request for new line-item veto authority so that he can remove needless discretionary spending. Yet it’s painfully obvious that these limited measures are woefully inadequate given the scale of our problems. But actions speak louder than words.

The problem with the administration’s “cost-cutting” strategies is that they settle for processes that only theoretically might someday save the taxpayers money. They are a convenient substitute for immediate, material spending cuts that could be implemented right now. What is the President and his party willing to do TODAY to cut spending?

House Republicans have already brought to the floor roughly $85 billion in direct cuts that would take effect immediately. The savings were the product of the three spending cuts that received the most votes on YouCut during the last three weeks in which Congress met. They include terminating a new $25 billion welfare program that undermines the welfare reform effort of the mid 1990s; discarding a pay raise for federal employees that costs $30 billion; and implementing a reform of government-sponsored bailout behemoths Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that would return $30 billion to the taxpayers. By the end of the year, we will have brought hundreds of billions – if not more than a trillion – dollars in spending cuts to the floor. There will be a public record of who in the House wants to cut spending, and who is blocking it.

Note to President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Leader Reid: The people are watching, actions speak louder than words. Start cutting spending NOW. To all of you – please take note of who is trying to cut spending and those who think you aren’t paying attention.