JOHN BOEHNER

Washington (Jul 29) House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) plans to offer a series of amendments that would cut millions of dollars in unnecessary spending from the bloated FY 2011 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) appropriations bill that Democratic leaders hope to pass today.  The Boehner amendments target unnecessary or duplicative federal spending for the Departments of Transportation (DOT) and Housing & Urban Development (HUD).  

“Given the state of the deficit and debt, it’s time for Congress to start evaluating each government program in terms of whether it is worth forcing our children and grandchildren to pay for it,” Boehner said. “The spending targeted by these amendments may be well-intentioned, but given the crisis our nation faces today, good intentions alone are not good enough.  The fact of the matter is, we’re broke, and about 41 cents of every dollar Congress spends today has to be borrowed.  Is this spending really so important that we’re willing to force our children and grandchildren to pay for it?”

Specifically, the Boehner amendments would:

• Terminate a HUD program for doctoral dissertations by cutting $300,000 from HUD and prohibiting the activity. Currently, HUD spends approximately $300,000 annually to fund $25,000 stipends for 12 students completing their doctoral dissertation on issues related to housing and urban development.  By focusing on its core mission rather than funding academic pursuits, taxpayers could save $1.5 million over five years.  Why should our kids and grandkids be forced to fund research papers on government housing policy when HUD already employs thousands of people every day to work on government housing policy?

• Cut $1.6 million from DOT’s Office of the Secretary, Salaries and Expenses.  The underlying bill added 11 positions and 6 full-time equivalents (FTEs) to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Budget and Programs, Office of the Secretary, Salaries and Expenses, within the Department of Transportation.  These positions are unnecessary and duplicative since each mode (e.g. Federal Highways Administration, Federal Rail Administration, etc.) already has its own budget office.  Why should our kids and grandkids be forced to fund more bureaucrats to monitor the spending of agencies that already have their own budget offices?

• Cut $40 million from HUD’s Transformation Initiative that funds efforts to teach communities that receive HUD funds how to use them.  If it costs $40 million just to teach them how to spend the money, maybe the money shouldn’t be spent in the first place.  Why should our kids and grandkids be forced to fund programs like this with little justification?

• Cut $35 million in new spending for grants to rehab houses through the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation.  This funding is duplicative and redundant, and President Obama’s budget did not request any funds to continue this new program.  The government has already provided nearly $8 billion dollars for this exact purpose through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program and the Home Investment Partnerships Program.  Why should our kids and grandkids be forced to spend another $35 million to do something that another agency is already doing?