May 07th, 2021
Editor's note: The following was published on 11/08/2005. We thought it appropriate to run it again.
By Jon Kyl
Most of the time, Congress concerns itself with figuring out ways to spend money. Every now and again, we stop and focus on how to save it - in particular, how to reduce the federal deficit.
The last time Congress achieved big savings was the FY 1994 Budget Reconciliation Act, which included $55.8 billion in Medicare savings and a $102 billion freeze in discretionary spending. Now, we're close to completing a similar package with the goal of reducing the deficit. This is important because Congress has been spending too much money and the federal government has some added obligations to help repair the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.
The bill to cut spending was derailed for a while when the Democratic leadership brought floor debate to a halt through a parliamentary stunt and forced us to spend more than three hours in closed (i.e. secret) session rehashing an investigation of pre-Iraq war intelligence.
Thursday night, however, the Senate passed by a vote of 52-47 the Deficit Reduction Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 2005, which, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, would reduce federal outlays by more than $35 billion over the year 2006-2010 period (and $109 billion from 2006 to 2015).
This major step in combating runaway entitlement and discretionary spending involved eight separate Senate committees meeting, and exceeding, their assigned targets (although they could have achieved even more savings).
The Finance Committee, on which I sit, approved more than $10 billion in reductions, mostly through changes in Medicare management (without reducing anyone's benefits). The Judiciary Committee, on which I also sit, saved $300 million over 5 years by adjusting immigration visa schedules and increasing fee amounts for certain employment-based visas.
Other committees found ways to increase revenues without raising taxes. One provision, for example, would provide royalties to the government and increase America's energy independence by opening a small section of the Arctic Natural Wildlife Refuge to environmentally responsible oil exploration. This will reduce prices at the pump over time, and also create hundreds of thousands of jobs and contribute billions to the economy.
We also took great care to achieve the vast majority of our savings from programs that don't affect low-income Americans, and from changes in the relationship between the federal government and private companies.
We're still working on other deficit reduction measures I've proposed:
* Eliminating pork-barrel "earmarks" in the recently passed-highway bill. (Savings: $20 billion.)
* Freezing the cost of living allowances for members of Congress, which allows us to lead by example even if the actual savings are relatively small. (Savings: $2 million) This has passed the Senate as part of the Treasury appropriations bill.
* Imposing a 5 percent discretionary spending cut across the federal government, exempting the departments of Defense and Homeland Security, and leaving a 1 percent "hold harmless" contingency for "essential" programs which the president, in consultation with the chairmen and ranking minority members of the authorizing committees, would select. (Savings: $16.5 billion.)
As with all natural disasters, the suffering of Katrina's victims is real and acute, but it does not change the reality that the money to help them has to come from somewhere. The federal government is no different than any other organization that suffers a major disaster: we have to reconsider and reorder our financial priorities in response.
Senator Kyl serves on the Senate Finance and Judiciary committees and chairs the Senate Republican Policy Committee. back...
Most of the time, Congress concerns itself with figuring out ways to spend money. Every now and again, we stop and focus on how to save it - in particular, how to reduce the federal deficit.
The last time Congress achieved big savings was the FY 1994 Budget Reconciliation Act, which included $55.8 billion in Medicare savings and a $102 billion freeze in discretionary spending. Now, we're close to completing a similar package with the goal of reducing the deficit. This is important because Congress has been spending too much money and the federal government has some added obligations to help repair the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.
The bill to cut spending was derailed for a while when the Democratic leadership brought floor debate to a halt through a parliamentary stunt and forced us to spend more than three hours in closed (i.e. secret) session rehashing an investigation of pre-Iraq war intelligence.
Thursday night, however, the Senate passed by a vote of 52-47 the Deficit Reduction Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 2005, which, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, would reduce federal outlays by more than $35 billion over the year 2006-2010 period (and $109 billion from 2006 to 2015).
This major step in combating runaway entitlement and discretionary spending involved eight separate Senate committees meeting, and exceeding, their assigned targets (although they could have achieved even more savings).
The Finance Committee, on which I sit, approved more than $10 billion in reductions, mostly through changes in Medicare management (without reducing anyone's benefits). The Judiciary Committee, on which I also sit, saved $300 million over 5 years by adjusting immigration visa schedules and increasing fee amounts for certain employment-based visas.
Other committees found ways to increase revenues without raising taxes. One provision, for example, would provide royalties to the government and increase America's energy independence by opening a small section of the Arctic Natural Wildlife Refuge to environmentally responsible oil exploration. This will reduce prices at the pump over time, and also create hundreds of thousands of jobs and contribute billions to the economy.
We also took great care to achieve the vast majority of our savings from programs that don't affect low-income Americans, and from changes in the relationship between the federal government and private companies.
We're still working on other deficit reduction measures I've proposed:
* Eliminating pork-barrel "earmarks" in the recently passed-highway bill. (Savings: $20 billion.)
* Freezing the cost of living allowances for members of Congress, which allows us to lead by example even if the actual savings are relatively small. (Savings: $2 million) This has passed the Senate as part of the Treasury appropriations bill.
* Imposing a 5 percent discretionary spending cut across the federal government, exempting the departments of Defense and Homeland Security, and leaving a 1 percent "hold harmless" contingency for "essential" programs which the president, in consultation with the chairmen and ranking minority members of the authorizing committees, would select. (Savings: $16.5 billion.)
As with all natural disasters, the suffering of Katrina's victims is real and acute, but it does not change the reality that the money to help them has to come from somewhere. The federal government is no different than any other organization that suffers a major disaster: we have to reconsider and reorder our financial priorities in response.
Senator Kyl serves on the Senate Finance and Judiciary committees and chairs the Senate Republican Policy Committee. back...
