Today, as the U.S. House debates America's budget for fiscal year 2013, U.S. Rep. Huizenga, MI-02, offered his support for the House Budget Committee proposal, "Path to Prosperity," by Chairman Paul Ryan, and the budget put forth by the Republican Study Committee:
"I came to Washington to help balance the budget, just like any hard-working taxpayer or successful business must do at the kitchen table each month. As anyone can see, President Obama's economic policies have failed our country; just look at this country's steep mountain of in-the-red debt his latest budget keeps us on. The budget put forth by Paul Ryan, in deep contrast, is valuable step in reversing that and bringing us back to sanity and security. The RSC budget goes even further, faster, which is what I want to see. I support any budget that will reign in spending, reduces the size of government, creates certainty for job creators and changes the trajectory in federal spending and both the RSC and Ryan budget meet those objectives," Huizenga said.
More detail on these budget proposals:
The Path to Prosperity:
- Cuts government spending to protect hardworking taxpayers;
- Tackles the drivers of our debt, so our troops don’t pay the price for Washington’s failure to take action;
- Restores economic freedom and ensures a level playing field for all by putting an end to special‐interest favoritism and corporate welfare;
- Reverses the President’s policies that drive up gas prices, and instead promotes an all‐of the‐above strategy for unlocking American energy production to help lower costs, create jobs, and reduce dependence on foreign oil.
- Strengthens health and retirement security by taking power away from government bureaucrats and empowering patients instead with control over their own care;
- Reforms our broken tax code to spur job creation and economic opportunity by lowering rates, closing loopholes, and putting hardworking taxpayers ahead of special interests.
The Republican Study Committee Budget:
- Cuts discretionary spending to $931 billion (slightly below the 2008 levels approved by Nancy Pelosi), and freezes it until the budget balances in 2017.
- Defense spending is the same as the House Budget Committee proposal. Non-defense shrinks from $377 billion in FY 2013 to $329 billion in FY 2022.
- Protects defense from sequestration by switching the scheduled cuts to non-defense discretionary this year and going forward.
- Creates a simpler, flatter, and fairer tax code as proposed in the RSC’s Jobs Through Growth Act.
- Extends federal funding for Medicaid & CHIP at current FY 2012 levels and gives states the tools they need to design and improve their own programs, as proposed in the RSC’s State Health Flexibility Act.
- Budgets responsibly for federal welfare programs by returning spending for these programs to pre-recession levels once unemployment drops to 6.5%, as proposed in the RSC’s Welfare Reform Act.
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