Joyce Supports Bipartisan Budget Act
Press Release
Today, U.S. Congressman Dave Joyce voted in favor of the Ryan Budget Deal that reduces the deficit by up to $23 billion, doesn't raise taxes, and allows Washington to operate under a regular budget rather than lurching from crisis to crisis. Joyce stated:
"For too long, those in Washington have sacrificed the good in pursuit of the perfect. This bill reduces the deficit through common-sense spending cuts without raising taxes. It also allows Washington to return to a regular budget process, something I've advocated for since day one, because it's the only way we can put a check on spending and stop operating from one crisis to another."
The bipartisan package includes $63 billion of sequester relief, $85 billion of savings, and $23 billion in net deficit reduction. Regular order is when bills go through the full legislative process and both chambers agree on a budget as well as write, amend, and pass 12 appropriations bills.
According to the House Budget Committee, the bipartisan budget agreement includes specific, concrete spending cuts, which come to a total of $85 billion in savings. Examples below:
Eliminate waste
· Stop paying Medicaid bills that legally obligated fathers and insurance companies should cover. That's a $1.4 billion spending cut.
· Stop sending unemployment checks to criminals.
· Stop sending government checks to dead people.
Stop favoritism
· End the special treatment for non-profit student-loan servicers. That would save $3 billion.
· Address the problem of some energy companies use the federal government like a bank. They deposit extra cash and earn well above market interest rates. By addressing this problem, we can save $750 million.
· Repeal a government research program for private energy companies. That's a $40 million cut.
Real reforms
· Makes sensible reforms to the federal employee retirement system.
· Taxpayers shouldn't have to bail out private companies' pension benefits. That's why we ask private companies to cover more of the cost of guaranteeing their pension benefits. That would protect taxpayers and save $7.9 billion.
· Mandatory spending is where the problem is. This agreement extends the mandatory sequester for two more years, which cuts $28 billion and rightly focuses on the source of the problem.
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