CSN News: Another Tea Party Republican Says 'No' to Fiscal 2011 Funding Bill
By Susan Jones
A small but growing number of conservative Republicans say they'll vote no on the compromise bill that will fund government operations for the six remaining months of fiscal 2011.
On Wednesday, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said he'll be among the "nays."
“I made a commitment to support the House in its pledge to cut $100 billion from the budget -- a budget that should have been passed last year, when Democrats controlled both Houses of Congress and the presidency," Johnson said. “This is the first (continuing resolution) that does not achieve that level of spending reduction. As a result, I will vote no when this CR comes before the Senate."
The funding deal struck by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Sen. Barack Obama includes $38.5 billion in spending cuts for the entire year compared with Fiscal Year 2010 enacted levels.
"The agreement is far from perfect," Boehner said, "and we need to do much more if we’re serious about creating new jobs, fixing our spending-driven debt crisis, and ending the uncertainty that continues to plague our economy. But it is a positive first step," Boehner insisted.
Sen. Johnson agrees that lawmakers "must do better."
"In order to get the economy growing again we must limit the size, scope, and cost of the federal government," Johnson said. He is calling for "very hard spending caps," and once those are established, Congress can begin the "hard work of prioritizing spending under those caps."
“I stand ready to work with anyone willing to seriously address these issues,” Johnson said.
Sen. Rand Paul said on Monday he’ll also vote no on the 2011 funding bill.
In a “Dear Colleague” letter, Paul said the bill will leave the nation with a record $1.6 trillion deficit for 2011 – the third year in a row with a record deficit.
“Only in Washington can a budget that spends more than it did the year before, with a larger deficit, be portrayed as ‘cutting,’” Paul wrote.
Paul urged his colleagues to think about the 2011 funding plan this way: “The entire budget-cut plans skim 3 percent off the top of our historic $1.65 trillion deficit. That means the side of Big Government got 97 percent of what they want.
“I prefer to be on the other side,” Paul said. “I will vote a resounding NO this week to this so-called deal. And I urge my colleagues, if they are serious about cutting government spending, to do the same.”
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) told Fox News’s Greta Van Susteren on Tuesday that he won’t vote for the 2011 funding bill, either – “because we are almost $1.7 trillion in debt with every new year of spending. We're almost $15 trillion in debt total. And I've pledged not to vote for any of these spending packages unless or until the package is accompanied by some kind of long-term spending restraint. And we don't have that yet.”
Sen. Lee said that spending as a percentage of GDP has to shrink, and Congress must agree that it won’t spend more in a year than it takes in.