Feingold Unveils Major Bill to Slash the Deficit, Cut Wasteful Spending

For more information, please visit: http://feingold.senate.gov/deficit

Washington, D.C. -- U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, unveiled major legislation today to cut wasteful spending and institute reforms to control spending going forward. Control Spending Now Act is a comprehensive plan comprised of more than forty individual efforts to reduce the deficit by more than half a trillion dollars over ten years and institute reforms to the budgeting and earmarking process to prevent wasteful spending. In addition to those institutional reforms, Feingolds bill will make Congress tighten its belt, crack down on corporate welfare, curb subsidies to big agribusinesses and other private enterprises and cut other wasteful spending on unnecessary projects.

Fiscal responsibility is a Wisconsin tradition and something I have focused on throughout my time in the Senate, Feingold said. A consistent message I hear from Wisconsinites regardless of party is the need to reduce wasteful spending. With our nation facing record deficits, Americans are rightly concerned that their children and grandchildren will be forced to shoulder this burden. That is why I am committed to attacking the deficit from all sides.

Along with earmarking and budget reforms, the bill also seeks to save taxpayer dollars by eliminating wasteful programs including:

- $244 billion by rescinding unobligated TARP payments and returning them to the Treasury
- $4 billion by cancelling the contract for 10 new C-17 aircrafts the Department of Defense didnt even ask for
- $257 million over ten years by allowing the FDA to assess fees to businesses for the cost of re-inspecting goods that fail an initial inspection taxpayers dont need to shoulder the burden for business mistakes.
- $30 million for a program that sends a radio and TV signal to Cuba that nobody hears.
- The bills cost-saving provisions total $505,571,500,000 over ten years.

While I dont expect this comprehensive package to pass all at once, Congress must get the message that it needs to reform its spending habits, Feingold said. The message from taxpayers is clear we must cut programs that do nothing but drain taxpayer dollars and institute reforms to prevent wasteful spending in the future.

Feingolds long record of deficit reduction began even before he came to the U.S. Senate. In his 1992 campaign, he unveiled an 82-point plan to slash the deficit by nearly a trillion dollars. Many of those reforms have been enacted, as have many other fiscally responsible initiatives Feingold has championed, such as reinstating pay-as-you-go (known as PAYGO) budget rules, and creating an inspector general to oversee U.S. taxpayer dollars in Iraq. These efforts are all part of Feingolds record of working to prevent the abuse of taxpayer dollars and restore fiscal discipline in Congress.

A complete breakdown of Senator Feingolds proposal is available at http://feingold.senate.gov/deficit

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