Griffin: Government Funding Bill "Lowers Discretionary Spending' to Pre-FY 2008 Levels

Statement

Congressman Tim Griffin (AR-02) today issued the following statement after the House passed the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 (H.R. 83), which includes full Appropriations legislation and funding for 11 of the 12 annual Appropriations bills through the end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2015, and includes the 12th bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security under a temporary "Continuing Resolution" that expires on February 27, 2015:

"During my time in Congress, Senate leadership and the President have blocked many of our attempts to implement long-term reforms and eliminate excessive spending in Washington, further worsening our nation's debt crisis that threatens future generations. Today's bipartisan agreement contains important policy changes to rein in federal overreach and provides targeted funding for critical programs. Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters worked hard to defeat today's bill, but they failed, and the bill we passed lowers discretionary spending to pre-FY 2008 levels.

"The agreement remains consistent with the Ryan-Murray budget agreement caps, cuts $60 million in funding for the overreaching Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and blocks regulations that would stifle important energy projects, hurt small businesses and destroy jobs. It limits EPA's proposed expansion of the "waters of the United States,' which would subject Arkansas's farmers and ranchers to costly and overly burdensome federal regulations and harm our state's vital agriculture industry. The bill slashes over $345 million from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and puts restrictions on the job-crushing, bureaucratic Dodd-Frank law.

"Some claim that this bill funds the President's illegal executive actions. That's not true. Despite criticism to the contrary, this Congress has not and will not fund illegal activity, and this bill funds the law as written. I agree wholeheartedly that President Obama has used funds intended for a legal purpose for an illegal one. This last week, Congress took a big step to fight against the President's illegal actions, and I am confident that the new Congress will continue fighting the President's illegal executive overreach.

"Today's bill is, of course, not perfect, but unlike a continuing resolution, this bill makes substantive changes to reduce spending and reject a government shutdown, which is bad policy, helps no one and wastes taxpayer dollars. With the incoming Republican majorities, I know my colleagues in the House and Senate will continue our work to uphold the Constitution, cut federal spending and save taxpayers' money."

The Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015, which passed the House by a vote of 219--206, contains emergency Overseas Contingency Operations funding to combat the emerging real-world threat brought by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and a total of $5.4 billion in emergency funding to address the domestic and international Ebola crisis. Also included in this package are important policy provisions to improve accountability and transparency, to ensure good government and to put the brakes on harmful overregulation by federal agencies.

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