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Press Releases
February 25, 2009: Congressman Wittman Votes Against Spending Bill
Washington, D.C.,
February 25, 2009
(WASHINGTON, DC) - Today, Congressman Rob Wittman voted against H.R. 1105: the Consolidated Appropriations Act of Fiscal Year 2009 or "omnibus" spending bill. To date, only three of the twelve bills funding the government have been approved. Consequently, all domestic functions of the government are being funded through a continuing resolution that expires on March 6, 2009. Wittman has advocated maintaining vital programs included in the bill by freezing current spending rates at Fiscal Year 2008 levels. The spending increases in the bill would grow the budget deficit by $1.4 trillion in Fiscal Year 2009, and the bill is project to result in a deficit of $8.7 trillion in ten years.
"At a time when American families are tightening their belts, the government should be doing the same. We shouldn't be irresponsibly placing more debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren," said Wittman. The three already-enacted appropriations bills included regular discretionary budget authority of $600.4 billion. When the spending in the omnibus is added to this total, H.R. 1105 proposes to complete the regular appropriations process at a spending level of $1.01 trillion-an increase of $72.4 billion or 7.7% compared to last year. "There has been no oversight of the over 8,000 earmarks the bill funds and no opportunity to offer amendments to cut spending. The committee process has been circumvented allowing no review by elected Members of Congress and certainly no transparency for American citizens who want to know where their hard earned dollars are going to," added Wittman. The great majority of the spending in last week's stimulus bill, H.R. 1 was domestic spending and thus was for programs that fall under the jurisdiction of one of these nine bills. Including stimulus spending, the omnibus will increase spending for programs in these bills by $301 billion or 80% over Fiscal Year 2008. The Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2009 ultimately passed the House by a vote of 245-178. See Congressman Wittman's Additional Comments on the Spending Bill on his YouTube Page |