Cornyn: Its Time to Reverse this Trend of Fiscal Apathy

WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. John Cornyn a member of the Senate Budget Committee spoke on the Senate floor this morning to express his concern with the proposed level of federal spending – an estimated $205 billion above the President’s budget request over the next five years - by the new majority in Congress and their failure to send any of the 12 annual appropriations bills to the President for his consideration despite the fact that the fiscal year ended on September 30th.  

Senator Cornyn noted that this inaction has come despite criticisms from Democrats last year when Republicans were in the majority including current Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) who said last December that “passing appropriations bills is the most fundamental job Congress is expected to do.”  

Excerpts of Senator Cornyn’s floor remarks today are below. 

“Yesterday marked the beginning of the new fiscal year when all of our projected spending for the next year should be budgeted and allocated to the appropriate federal agencies….Any business leader or small-business owner in America can tell you that entering the fiscal year without an approved budget plan is disastrous policy.  But in Washington we’re grown to accept that the federal government can basically hold the American taxpayer to a double-standard – do what we say and not what we do….This mentality of fiscal irresponsibility is a disturbing trend.  Americans rightly expect us to keep the country running efficiently and to be good stewards of the taxpayers’ dollar.  We can’t do that when we legislate on borrowed time and fail to pass any appropriations bills by the end of the fiscal year. 

“As each minute each day and each week passes by we come closer and closer to what is known as an omnibus appropriations bill.  For those outside the Washington bubble let me just say that the word ‘omnibus’ is sometimes translated as ‘grab your wallet’ because it tends to be loaded down with a lot of excess spending and undocumented pork.  The current spending proposals by the new majority – an extra $205 billion on top of the President’s budget request over the next five years – will force American taxpayers to send even more of their hard-earned pay to the federal government. 

“Now that we’ve already missed our own deadline for appropriations it’s time we get serious about these spending bills.  I encourage all of my colleagues to pass timely and responsible appropriations bills and reverse this trend of fiscal apathy.”