Congressman McHenry Statement on President’s Budget Plan
President George W. Bush delivered his budget for the federal government to the U.S. Capitol today, where lawmakers will review the plan and come up with their own budget guidelines by March.
The budget broadly plans to increase national defense and homeland security spending by 5% and 7%, respectively, while holding down spending in other areas of the federal government.
Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10), who serves as newly-appointed member of the House Budget Committee, called the President’s plan “a bold move,” and added that it was time for Congress to work with the President to put the federal government’s books in order.
“President Bush has his priorities right. He has proposed a budget that will cut waste while funding national defense and homeland security, our two greatest priorities,” said Congressman McHenry. “By holding down spending, budgets like this open the door to the creation of high-paying jobs and more home ownership through lower interest rates.”
Each year, the President proposes a budget and submits it to Congress for consideration. The House and Senate use the President’s budget as a model to create their own budgets. Then in a House and Senate conference, the two houses of Congress agree on their own benchmarks for federal government spending over the year. Tomorrow, the president’s budget director, Joshua Bolton, will introduce the budget and answer questions from the House Budget Committee.
“Now it’s Congress’s turn to review the President’s plan, and to use it as a blueprint for our own plan that will hold back spending while funding our priorities,” continued Mr. McHenry. “We need to sit down and focus on ways to trim the fat out of the government while funding our priorities for Western North Carolina like worker education, retraining, and national security – and never raising taxes. This is what we were elected to do.”
For more information, or to schedule an interview, please contact Jonathan Collegio at (202) 225-2576 or by e-mail at jonathan.collegio@mail.house.gov.
