First Cut Reaches the Floor

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) announced Tuesday that during its first week, more than 280,000 Americans cast their votes on YouCut, and selected the new non-reformed welfare program as the first proposed spending cut they want members of the House to bring to the floor for debate. If the measure were to pass, Cantor estimates that the cut could save taxpayers up-to $2.5 billion, annually.

Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) will take the proposed cut—that he and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), head of the Republican Study Committee’s Budget and Spending Task Force, devised—to the House floor for an up-or-down vote.

On Wednesday, a new list of proposed spending cuts (for week two of this initiative), was posted on the YouCut website. Every week Americans can vote—online or text message—for one of five measures to cut spending, and the proposal that receives the most votes will be taken to the House floor for a vote as to whether or not members will debate the bill. The site also asks voters to submit their own ideas to reduce spending—more than 15,000 suggestions have already been received.

In a statement released by Cantor’s office on Tuesday, the GOP explains the purpose of this proposed cut: “In 1996 Congress and the President [Clinton] joined together to implement a bipartisan reform of our nation’s welfare system. Since then welfare caseloads dropped by an unprecedented 60% as work and earnings by low-income parents rose by record levels. Despite the bipartisan support for the 1996 reforms, some members, led by reform opponent Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), included several provisions in the 2009 stimulus law to undermine the successful welfare reforms—including a new ‘welfare emergency fund’ designed to promote welfare dependence....

Week Two Cuts:

Byrd Honors Scholarships
$42 Million in Savings in the First Year
($420 Million Over Ten Years)
The Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarships program provides grants to States to provide $1,500 a year scholarships for up to four years to high-performing high school students entering an undergraduate course of study. The Obama Administration proposed terminating this program in their annual budget, stating "Byrd Scholarships are only available to a small number of elite students (around 0.3 percent of first-time postsecondary students receive the scholarship), and States are prohibited from considering financial need when awarding the scholarships. Reliable performance data are not available, and the design of the program suggests these scholarships do not generally facilitate postsecondary education opportunities that would not otherwise be possible for awardees. Given the high academic performance of the students who receive the award, many of these students would still enter an undergraduate course of study and graduate even without receiving the scholarship."

Eliminate the Proposed Federal Employee Pay Raise
Approximately $2 Billion in the First Year
(Approximately $30 Billion Over Ten Years)
As part of his budget, President Obama proposed providing federal civilian employees with a 1.4% pay raise next year. This year Federal employees received a 2% raise and since the year 2000 have received raises averaging 3.6% a year. USA Today recently reported that the typical federal worker is paid 20% more than a private-sector worker in the same occupation (median salary). This doesn’t include the value of benefits like health care and retirement. This proposal would expand upon the just enacted legislation to prevent Members of Congress from receiving a pay raise. This proposal would not impact the scheduled 1.4% pay raise for those in the military.

Suspend Federal Land Purchases
$266 Million in Savings in the First Year
($2.66 Billion Over Ten Years)
Last year Congress spent $266 million acquiring additional federal lands at the Departments of Interior and Agriculture. This is a 138% increase over the comparable amount of funding just four years ago. Given that the federal government already owns 29% of the land in America and has a multi-billion dollar maintenance backlog to maintain current land holdings, suspending new federal land purchases for five years would permit the government to focus on maintaining existing property while also saving taxpayers millions of dollars a year.

Terminate Funding for UNESCO
$81 Million in Savings in the First Year
($810 Million Over Ten Years)
Last year the administration proposed deleting the Department of Education’s attaché to UNESCO saving approximately $632,000 a year. Terminating U.S. support for UNESCO entirely would save taxpayers $81 million annually. The U.S. had not supported UNESCO for 19 years prior to the decision by the Bush Administration to rejoin in 2003. UNESCO routinely undertakes activities that are properly the responsibility of individual countries and their governments, including reviewing and making recommendations in areas related to education, arts, culture, ethics, science and technology, and historic preservation. UNESCO recently came under fire for their proposed International Guidelines for Sexuality Education. Membership provides little benefit to American taxpayers in light of the overall cost.

Eliminate Mohair Subsidies
Approximately $1 Million in Savings in the First Year
($10 Million Over Ten Years)
Federal price support for mohair was first enacted in 1947. The National Wool Act of 1954 established direct payments for wool and mohair producers. The purpose of the program was to encourage production of wool because it was considered an essential and strategic commodity. According to the Congressional Research Service, no similar purpose was stated for the mohair program. While this program was phased out in 1995, ad hoc payments were provided in 1999 and 2000 and the program was reinstituted in 2002. Eliminating this program once again would save taxpayers approximately $1 million a year. (Also proposed as part of the RSC Sunset Caucus.)

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.