Today, Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28) announced introduction of the Reduce Unnecessary Spending Act, a bill that will give Congress and the President important tools to cut wasteful spending and save taxpayer dollars.

The Reduce Unnecessary Spending Act, H.R. 1043, is commonly referred to as a modified line-item veto.  It gives the President and Congress the authority to identify and vote to cut specific provisions or earmarks included in larger pieces of legislation. Also known as “expedited rescission,” this proposal has bipartisan support and is a common sense tool to budget enforcement.  Congressman Cuellar and the Blue Dog coalition introduced this legislation on March 11, 2011, and are original sponsors of today’s legislation.
 
“The American people know that we need to cut wasteful, inefficient spending in order to restore fiscal responsibility and grow our economy,” Congressman Cuellar said. “With the authority to make specific cuts, we can eliminate wasteful projects such as the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ without voting down the entire legislation. This requires legislative and executive cooperation and is a smart, responsible approach to reduce spending.”

Specifically, H.R. 1043 ensures timely congressional consideration of cuts to non-entitlement spending when requested by the President. It preserves Congress’ constitutional prerogative by requiring that both the House of Representatives and the Senate approve a rescission request before it can become law. The bill also requires the President to submit the requests to Congress within 45 calendar days of signing the initial spending bill into law. Any savings from Congressional passage of a rescission approval will immediately go to deficit reduction.