Statement of Congressman Owens on House Passage of Continuing Resolution
From the Office of Congressman Owens
WASHINGTON – Congressman Bill Owens today released the following statement in response to the early morning House passage of H.R. 1, the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011.
“It is unfortunate that the resources and time of the House of Representatives were focused on H.R. 1 for an entire legislative week. We have a short time before our current funding bill expires, and to send a partisan funding bill to the Senate is an exercise in futility. This week would have been better spent negotiating with the Senate to find a workable compromise, like we did during last year’s lame duck session of Congress to extend tax cuts for the middle class.
“If we truly want to take a serious look at how to get the nation’s fiscal house in order, we should take politics out of the process and enact across-the-board cuts – with the exception of self-funding programs like Social Security – of around 3 percent to get us through the remainder of the current fiscal year.
“One way Congress could have accomplished this, when the continuing resolution was passed in the early hours of Saturday morning, was to pass Mr. LaTourette’s (R-OH) substitute to H.R. 1. This substitute would have trimmed spending without focusing Washington’s fiscal scalpel with a partisan hand. Unfortunately, my colleague’s amendment was withdrawn.
“With my proposal, critical government services could adjust to minor cuts without going under, and we would have adequate time to come together and do an economic analysis of which government programs are creating or sustaining jobs, review each program, and apply a cost-benefit analysis in determining which programs should continue to be funded.”
Posted: February 19th, 2011 under Congressional News.