Changing leaves
don't mean changing fiscal priorities - not for the 110th Congress, which
returned from its pre-autumn recess to pluck the "green" trees of taxpayer
dollars. Legislators proposed more spending cuts than in recent years, but
the fiscal agendas of fewer than one in seven Representatives and one in 10
Senators would reduce taxpayers' tabs, according to the National Taxpayers
Union Foundation's (NTUF) latest BillTally report.
"It's often said that money doesn't grow on trees, but based on
Congress' overall fiscal work product, taxpayers would think this adage
never reached Capitol Hill," said Demian Brady, NTUF Senior Policy Analyst
and BillTally Director. The study also found:
- A "do-nothing" Congress costs less. If the House passed all bills
introduced during the opening months of this Congress, spending would
increase by $1.5 trillion (excluding overlaps), or $42,840.50 per
household. Senate bill sums would soar to $958 billion, or $26,239.54 per
household.
- The Democratic majority isn't sticking to "fiscal discipline."
Though House Democrats each called for a savings average of $731 million,
this offsets 0.2 percent of their spending-hike bills, resulting in a net
agenda of $470.1 billion - the highest among the past nine Congresses.
House Republicans on average sponsored savings of $6.5 billion, offsetting
70.6 percent of their proposed increases for a net agenda of $2.7 billion -
the lowest since the 106th Congress. Spending agendas for the typical
Senate Democrat and Republican totaled $48.4 billion and $696 million,
respectively.
- Spending still overwhelms savings. The ratio of spending-increase to
spending-decrease bills has declined, but budget boosts still dominate
fiscal agendas. For every House bill that would reduce spending, there were
20 proposals to increase it. The Senate, there were nearly 33 increases for
every reduction.
Since 1991, BillTally has computed a "net annual agenda cost" for each
Member of Congress based on individual sponsorships of legislation. The
study illustrates the fiscal behavior of lawmakers, free from the influence
of committees, party leaders, and floor vote rules. All cost estimates for
bills are obtained from third-party sources or are calculated from neutral
data.
Source: National Taxpayers Union
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