The final vote on the “Spending Cuts to Expired and Unnecessary Programs Act,” a $15 billion rescission bill, that passed the U.S House of Representatives on June 7 – and which the White House supported – is unsurprising.
The two Tennessee Democrats in the House voted to continue spending your tax dollars on “expired and unnecessary programs,” while the seven Tennessee Republicans in the House voted to stop the waste.
Tennessee Republicans who voted yes to cut spending:
Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN-01)
Rep. Jimmy Duncan (R-TN-02)
Rep. Chuck Fleischman (R-TN-03)
Rep Scott DesJarlais (R-TN-04)
Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-06)
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07)
Rep. David Kustoff (R-TN-08)
Tennessee Democrats who voted no and opposed cuts in spending:
Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN-05)
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN-09)
The White House released a statement at the time of the vote. For those keeping score at home, this is just one more bit of proof that the party of Phil Bredesen has absolutely no intention of reining in spending in Washington.
The Administration applauds today’s passage of H.R. 3, the Spending Cuts to Expired and Unnecessary Programs Act, in the U.S. House of Representatives and urges the Senate to quickly act on the legislation. In keeping with his promise to get our fiscal house back in order, President Donald J. Trump exercised his authority under the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 in early May by sending to the Congress a package of $15 billion in proposed rescissions of Federal funds. In line with this historic request, H.R. 3 would rescind funding that is not needed for its intended purposes, or that has been sitting unused within agencies for years and return it to the American taxpayer. President Trump and this Administration are fully committed to protecting taxpayers, and Senate passage of this legislation is critical to reducing wasteful, unnecessary spending and making our Federal Government more efficient, effective, and accountable.
There’s a bit more to this story and the text of the bill can be found here: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/3/text?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22hr+3%22%5D%7D&r=1
As for the Tennessee Republican delegation, note that not one of the 7 co-sponsored the bill.
A number of the cuts were from various rural public housing programs, “development grants”, subsidized utilities, and many other various and sundry “entitlement” programs instituted by the previous administration in the wake of the 2008 economic meltdown.
The tall pole in the tent, at $5B representing almost 30% of the total, is from Sec. 301 of PL 114, a 2 year extension of the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP) . The bulk of the remainder is from various programs under the provision of the Social Security Act.
Say what you will about Rep. Paul Ryan, but he knows the budget like the back of his hand and has long led the charge to cutting Social Security. But notice that none of these cuts involve retirement income, nor disability – just “gimme” programs that were slipped into the Social Security Act as political cover. “He’s cutting your Social Security!!!” will be the cry when, in fact, it has nothing to do with retirement benefits nor disability, and everything to do to instituting a nanny state of dependency. Which explains, in part, why there’s such resistance on the part of the Democrats..
In the grand scheme of things, $15B is a drop in the bucket – but drops add up and precedents matter, and it’s a step in the right direction – albeit one that pales in comparison with the magnitude of the expansion of the federal budget.