Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla) claimed victory Friday in his continued battle against rampant federal spending. For three years, Inhofe has proposed a simple, one sentence amendment to the annual Congressional Budget Resolution requiring a supermajority (3/5) vote to exceed the previous fiscal year’s non-defense, non-trust-fund, discretionary spending.
After years of effort, Inhofe’s language was incorporated into the fiscal year 2008 Congressional Budget Resolution (S.Con.Res.21) that passed the Senate by a 52-47 vote. Due to increased pressure for fiscal responsibility in Washington, Congress proactively included Inhofe’s language.
“The Democrats have once again lived up to their ‘tax and spend’ reputation,” Inhofe said.
“My language will help to protect our nation from future irresponsible spending binges.”
Inhofe’s language saves taxpayers a projected $9 billion in this year’s budget alone. By comparison, the entire fiscal year 2008 Oklahoma state budget, as passed by state House and Senate, is just over $7 billion.
“Though the Democrats’ budget includes essential items that I fought to preserve including essential funding for BRAC and my fiscally conservative language, I cannot support this legislation because of the unnecessary over-spending it contains.” Inhofe said.
“In addition to hiking spending by more than $150 billion, the Democrats’ budget calls for a $736 billion tax increase that will ultimately have devastating effects on our economy. Their budget also fails to address entitlement reform, leaving Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid on a path to bankruptcy.” Labels: Congress, Sen. Inhofe
Posted at 3/26/2007 09:08:00 AM
