Gregory Congressional Reform Plan - Part 3: Spending

Despite recent lip-service to fiscal restraint, President Obama on Monday unveiled a $3.8 trillion budget that will raise government spending to unprecedented levels, ramp up taxes, and irresponsibly pass along a massive burden of debt on the credit card of our future generations.

To put things into perspective, this budget brings government spending to nearly a quarter of our national economy, doubles our debt in five years and triples it by Fiscal Year 2019 from 2008 levels, and raises taxes by $2 trillion over the next ten years.

While some U.S. House leaders have argued that “we must spend our way out of this recession,” middle-class families know that this false logic will only make matters worse, hampering our recovery and forcing our children to suffer the consequences of the mistakes of self-serving politicians.

Will Gregory knows it is time for bold action.  In Congress, Mr. Gregory will advance critical measures to ensure our government lives within its means, just like every American household, and shed sunlight on where our hard-earned money is going.

As the representative from Connecticut’s 4^th Congressional District, Will Gregory will:

1)    Propose that Congress introduce a Balanced Budget Amendment similar to the nearly passed amendment of 1982.  This Amendment will stipulate that, excepting expenditures that are necessary in times of war, Congress cannot spend more money than it raises unless supermajorities of both Houses deem it necessary.  Furthermore, the limit on national debt cannot be increased without supermajorities. 

• These restrictions on national spending cannot be avoided simply by shifting federal responsibilities onto state governments.  The Amendment will prohibit unfunded national mandates – if the national government wants states to do something, it must give them the necessary funding, funding that will show up on the national budget. The Amendment will also put pressure on state governments to reduce debt – national funding will be linked to reduction in debt.

2)    Ban the practice of “airdropping” earmarks and prohibit the construction of “monuments-to-me.”

• All earmarks must be left open for debate on the House floor and no federal funds may be allocated to projects bearing the name of the Congressman that provided the earmark.

3)    Require that all earmarks be immediately reported to a centralized online database that is both a) searchable, and b) downloadable by the American public.

• Sunlight is the best disinfectant.  Congress needs oversight from the citizens it represents.  If members of congress stand by their distribution of resources, let them do so publicly.

4)    Enact a moratorium on all earmarks for the period until which the online database is available for public examination.

Paid for by Will Gregory for Congress
PO Box 972, Stamford, CT 06904

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