END WASTEFUL GOVERNMENT SPENDING

Congress doesn’t have a revenue problem. Revenue is at an all-time high. Congress has a spending problem.

Washington bureaucrats, like my opponent, have forgotten that the money they’re spending is taxpayers’ money, the debt they are amassing is taxpayers’ debt, and the burden created by this financial irresponsibility will eventually be ours and our childrens’ burden

We must reverse the trend of spending in Washington.

• Reduce the Size and Cost of Government – To incrementally reduce the size of and waste by government. This will be accomplished through appointed commissions that will examine and recommend elimination or consolidation of departments and activities that do not return adequate value to taxpayers. This will work much as the Base Closure Commission has done for the Pentagon. Spending programs may not be allowed to outlive their useful lives.
  
  
• Earmark Reform – Earmark reform is central to controlling runaway government spending. Stop the current practice of earmarks and pork-barrel spending that serve only to benefit a few voters, contributors and a congressman’s reelection chances at the expense of all taxpayers. Earmarks are used as politicians’ vote-buying slush funds.  Those who depend on tax money to preserve their jobs are unlikely to control their tendencies to spend on any other program.
  
  
• Strict Review and Approval of Spending Programs – Any expenditure recommended by a member of Congress should be pre-submitted, properly reviewed and approved by the applicable agency and voted on as part of an appropriations bill.
  
  
• Exclude Unreviewed Expenditures – Inclusion of any congressional spending program without proper review and budgetary passage will not have the force of law. Committee reports and airdrops into Conference Committees will not be permitted.