Look, trimming these budgets is a good thing – as Republicans have said repeatedly.  But is giving the heads of these agencies the ability to redirect money really an indication that Washington is prepared to bring our deficits under control before the European debt crisis migrates across the Atlantic?  Or is it simply posturing?

The good news is that the administration, at least on the surface, is finally getting the message that the American people are fed up with the reckless culture of spending prevailing over Washington.  America has soured on an agenda that sets out to double the debt in five years and triple it in 10.  That is why we launched YouCut, an effort to begin to transform the culture in Washington from one focused entirely on spending to one that forces measures to cut waste and save money.

Now, after more than 700,000 YouCut votes have been cast to remove specific wasteful spending items in the budget, and three House votes later (that would have saved $85 billion had enough Democrats supported them), the President is beginning to talk about finding ways to save taxpayer money.

To be sure, we welcome the administration’s calls for austerity in government agencies.  We also support the president’s request for new line-item veto authority so that he can remove needless discretionary spending. Yet it’s painfully obvious that these limited measures are woefully inadequate given the scale of our problems. But actions speak louder than words.

The problem with the administration’s “cost-cutting” strategies is that they settle for processes that only theoretically might someday save the taxpayers money. They are a convenient substitute for immediate, material spending cuts that could be implemented right now.  What is the President and his party willing to do TODAY to cut spending?

House Republicans have already brought to the floor roughly $85 billion in direct cuts that would take effect immediately. The savings were the product of the three spending cuts that received the most votes on YouCut during the last three weeks in which Congress met. They include terminating a new $25 billion welfare program that undermines the welfare reform effort of the mid 1990s; discarding a pay raise for federal employees that costs $30 billion; and implementing a reform of government-sponsored bailout behemoths Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that would return $30 billion to the taxpayers.  By the end of the year, we will have brought hundreds of billions – if not more than a trillion – dollars in spending cuts to the floor.  There will be a public record of who in the House wants to cut spending, and who is blocking it.

Note to President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Leader Reid:  The people are watching, actions speak louder than words.  Start cutting spending NOW.  To all of you – please take note of who is trying to cut spending and those who think you aren’t paying attention.

For those who hunger to hold their elected officials accountable for perpetuating a culture of reckless runaway spending in Washington, meet YouCut.

This first-of-its-kind interactive initiative empowers taxpayers with direct democracy at a time when their faith in Congress’ fiscal prudence has reached its lowest. YouCut allows the public to vote each week on one of five wasteful spending items that they would like to strip from the federal budget. Once the votes are tallied, Republicans force a vote on whether or not to take up and debate the cut on the House floor.

During the first week, a plurality of voters – over 81,000! – chose to axe a recently created $2.5 billion annual welfare program that undercuts cost-saving welfare reforms made in the mid 1990’s.  Within 5 days of the experiment, 280,000 Americans have cast a vote either online or by text message.  At several points, more than 5,000 votes were being cast per hour, with less than one percent of votes originating from inside the beltway.

The overwhelming response speaks to the extreme levels of frustration that you feel toward a Congress that refuses to listen to you.  Over the last decade, taxpayers have grown weary of the incessant federal spending binges – no matter which party has been in power. They now look across the Atlantic with horror as Europe collapses under the weight of its own debt. Fear that America will go down the same road has only amplified calls for spending restraint.

Through YouCut, concerned citizens are cracking through the wall of resistance put up by big spenders in Washington to create a new culture of savings. This poses a threat to several in Congress who are invested heavily in preserving the status quo – hence the Democratic National Committee’s vigorous effort to discredit the program.  Worse, rather than listening to the hundreds of thousands of Americans, Tim Kaine (Chairman of the DNC) and Chris Van Hollen (Chairman of the DCCC) chose to mock the opinions of those who voted.  Not listening – a common theme for Democrats.

Driven by a new generation of young and energetic leaders, today’s GOP understands that we were fired from the majority because we abandoned the fiscal principles we had been sent to Washington to uphold. After two terms in the minority, we are eager to restore our reputation as responsible custodians of taxpayer money. It is this commitment to eliminate the prevailing wink-and-a-nod approach to unnecessary spending that spawned YouCut.

This week citizens can choose among the following items:

1. Byrd Honors Scholarships ($42 million in savings in the first year -$420 million over ten years) Even the Obama Administration proposed terminating this program in their annual budget.  Surely Congress can too.
2. Eliminate the Proposed Federal Employee Pay Raise (saves approximately $2 billion in the first year, $30 billion over ten years).  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. This proposal would expand upon the just enacted legislation to prevent Members of Congress from receiving a pay raise and would not impact the scheduled pay raise for those serving in the military.
3. 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, 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 would permit the government to focus on maintaining existing property while also saving taxpayers millions of dollars a year.
4. 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.
5. 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, and the National Wool Act of 1954 established direct payments for wool and mohair producers. The purpose 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.)

Again, cutting any one these programs is not going to erase our debt or deficit in one shot.  But, it will begin to change the focus in Washington from spending to saving, from growing to cutting.  That’s why we need your help.

Please take just a few seconds to us in this effort. YouCut offers all Americans the ability to change the wasteful ways of Washington.  To be sure, 280,000 votes is a great number.  But to bring real change, rather than mere lip service, we need many more people to stand up and participate. The louder our voice, the harder it becomes for Speaker Pelosi to ignore.  Visit www.republicanwhip.house.gov/youcut to cast your vote now.

We all know that Washington has a spending problem – and both Democrats AND Republicans bear some responsibility.  But as I wrote last week, America is at a crossroads and the choices we make at this critical time will determine what kind of country we want to be.  To get back on the right path, Congress MUST start to make some choices that simply can’t be delayed any longer.

While we won’t be able to solve our deficit problems overnight or with one silver bullet, we CAN and we MUST begin to replace the culture of spending that now dominates Washington with a culture of savings.  Just imagine if your government was as focused on saving money as it is on spending money.  Imagine if Congress spent less time naming post offices – 62 and counting – and more time reducing wasteful spending.  Sounds nice, doesn’t it?

Today, we are launching YouCut – a first-of-its-kind project designed to defeat the permissive culture of runaway spending in Congress.  It allows YOU to vote, both online and on your cell phone, on spending cuts that you want to see the House – YOUR HOUSE – enact.   That’s right, instead of Washington telling YOU how THEY will spend YOUR money, YOU can tell THEM how to save it.  After several days of voting, on Monday, May 17^th, we will announce the first winner and later that week House Republicans will call for an up-or-down vote on the spending cut.  We will repeat this cycle every week for the rest of the year.

For the first week of voting, here are your choices:

1. Eliminate the Presidential Election Fund, a federal program that provides matching funds to political candidates during Presidential primaries, certain third-party candidates, and funds for political conventions. In the 2008 Presidential election the candidates raised over $1.3 billion from individuals and PACs; do they really need to supplement that with taxpayer money?
2. Prohibiting taxpayer-subsidized union activities by prohibiting federal employees from being paid by the government for performing union functions.  Currently some federal employees spend up to 100% of their workweek, paid by taxpayers, doing work for their union. Federal employees unions collect millions in revenue each year and spend significant amounts on political activities and lobbying; should they also be subsidized by the taxpayer for their official functions?
3. Terminate the Department of Housing and Urban Development program that provides individuals with $25,000 stipends for completing their doctoral dissertations. Recently taxpayers have financed research on media strategies for housing policy and the use of eminent domain for urban redevelopment. Why should families who are struggling to pay for their children’s college also be asked to fund stipends from the government for those who want to write their dissertation on certain government-preferred policies?
4. Terminate the new alternative welfare program, recently created to incentivize states to increase their welfare caseloads without requiring able-bodied adults to work, get job training, or otherwise prepare to move off of taxpayer assistance. Reforming the welfare program was one of the great achievements of the Republican Congress in the mid 1990s, saving taxpayers billions of dollars and ending the cycle of dependency on welfare.  This new program ushered in by Democrats is merely a backdoor way to undo those reforms.
5. Focus federal economic development assistance on areas of need. The Community Development Block Grant program currently funds a wide range of local economic development activities. While it is advertised as a way to help low-income communities, funds are also dispersed to communities with income well-above the national average. A recent study found that the community of Newton, Massachusetts, with a per capita income over twice the national average, was receiving $28 per person in CDBG funds. At the same time, other communities with income 25% below the national average were receiving $10 per person.

There they are: five simple ways to begin to talk about saving money.

You have a right to a federal government that doesn’t spend money that it does not have.  Anyone who believes that President Obama, Senator Reid, Speaker Pelosi or the Democratic majorities are “concerned” about the deficit should take a look at how grossly they’ve increased spending.  Make no mistake, they look at America’s massive debt and see a reason to raise taxes.  But they are wrong.  Our debt was born out of an addiction to spending.   And if those same Democrats aren’t going to do anything to stop this addiction, we are.  If those Democrats aren’t going to listen to you, we are.

As I wrote a few weeks back, a 178-seat minority isn’t going to win many legislative battles in the House. And we don’t have a lot of tools at our disposal.  But I commit to you that we ARE going to use every means we have to hold them accountable.  And this project is a start.

The time has come for Congress to finally show political courage. American families have been forced to face tough financial realities and make difficult but necessary decisions. Why should their government act any differently?  This is not the same GOP as it was a few years ago, and with YouCut, we hope to force the Democrat-controlled Congress to begin to confront the difficult but unavoidable realities of our fiscal situation.

Please drop by http://www.republicanwhip.house.gov/YouCut and vote to help us put Uncle Sam on a diet.

Perhaps the GOP of 2005 would have taken the bait and swallowed the administration’s bad medicine. After all, Republicans during that period were guilty of spending too much and growing government too much, both of which would become hallmarks of the February 2009 stimulus plan and the loaded agenda that would follow. That GOP became a bloated, go-along to get-along body that forgot how to lead. We blew it, and we were rightfully fired by our bosses – the American people.

But the GOP in the House today is different. Very different. Led by a new generation of young and energetic leaders, we are committed to restoring the public’s trust in our ability to lead as responsible adults.

Let’s take a look at the last 16 months.

In the face of one-party Democratic rule, House Republicans learned fairly quickly that an election won on ‘change’ would result in a far more intrusive and expensive government. At the time, many political pundits joined the chorus of Democrats who warned that House Republicans faced political suicide if they didn’t support the President’s signature inaugural initiative – his stimulus plan. Yet we decided to fight. And we fought hard. The reason we were able to credibly oppose such a popular President was because we presented a much more responsible approach that would have created twice the jobs at half the cost of the eventual stimulus law that has failed to deliver as promised. A 178-seat minority isn’t going to win many legislative battles in the House. But it did prove sufficient to offer a clear contrast and provide the first glimpse of a Republican Party that had returned to its fiscally conservative roots.

From that moment, a revitalized House GOP dedicated itself to developing alternative solutions grounded in the fiscally responsible, small-government principles proven to work for our economy. On the stimulus, instead of pouring hundreds of billions down the rat holes of un-stimulative government programs, we proposed to give private-sector job creators an incentive to hire by exempting small businesses from 20 percent of their tax liability. On health care, instead of the budget-busting government takeover known as Obamacare, we provided solutions such as medical liability reform and purchasing health care across state lines which would lower costs while enabling families and patients to keep the care they have if they liked it. To create real jobs, we offered a “no cost Jobs plan” that would cut unemployment by approving lingering free-trade agreements and halting the deluge of ‘Obama tax increases.’ And on the budget, not only did we challenge President Obama to freeze spending at last year’s levels, but we offered cuts that would save taxpayers more than $375 billion.

We even challenged President Obama in a letter to help us force a vote in the House on the modest budget savings he proposed but which have been ignored by the Democrat majority. As has become routine, we have yet to receive a response.

Washington is always talking about the unlimited ways to increase spending. How about instead we start spending a lot more time talking about ways to cut expenditures and save money. That’s one reason why this Republican Conference adopted an earmark moratorium so we can finally start to fix a process that’s been broken for years. Could you imagine the Republican party of five years ago taking that step?

The point is that in each of these circumstances, we have stood up against an administration and a Pelosi-led Congress hell-bent on reorienting the role of government in America. While we may not have the numbers, our fight and conviction remains strong.

We understand that if our government is going to continue to spend and insert itself into the private economy the way that the Obama Administration and the Pelosi/Reid Congress has, then the America we know and love is in trouble. We will face steeper taxation, slower growth, higher unemployment and less economic opportunity for everyone. That may be a sacrifice Democrats are willing to stomach on their way to creating a European-style social welfare state. But for us it’s an unacceptable and radical departure from the American way.

America is a nation at a crossroads, and it is up to each of us to determine what kind of country we want to be. We must not leave our children a country more in debt and worse off than we found it, and I believe it is one of the biggest moral obligations of our time to act now to put a stop to what is happening in Washington. That means listening to the American people. It means spending less and saving more. It means pushing common-sense solutions that serve the national interest, not the special interests. And it means ensuring that our children have the same opportunity to achieve that we were given.

I am under no illusions – both parties have helped to create a debt that everyone knows is dangerously high. But only one of them is going to keep going down that path and taking our country with it. The other has learned its lesson and has reformed itself.

Col. Van T. Barfoot, a resident of Richmond, Virginia, is a veteran of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam who begins his day by raising the flag in his front yard.  This seems simple enough, a man who has sacrificed so much raising the flag he risked his life to defend around the world, yet the dispute continued.

In response, Congressman Buck McKeon (CA-25) of the Armed Services Committee and I introduced a resolution to ensure that ANY of the 72 Congressional Medal of Honor winners can fly the American flag outside their homes at any time.  Interestingly, minutes later the homeowners association announced that they would let him proceed.

It’s a sad state of affairs when a man – a literal hero – who clearly has earned the right to proudly display our flag is banned from doing so.   Commonsense should prevail in a situation like this one.  Thankfully, the situation has been resolved.  I salute Col. Van T. Barfoot, his commitment to this country and every veteran and active member of our military that fights for our freedom, liberty and democracy.  And may they all fly the flag with pride should they choose – they have certainly earned that right.

This disconnect will reach new heights next week as the President and Speaker Pelosi prepare to fly to Copenhagen to promote job killing cap & trade legislation as unemployment continues to rise and the deficit continues to soar here at home.  Cap and Trade is a tax raising scheme that some wrongly believe can reduce carbon emissions.  It starts with the misguided belief that Washington can identify a commodity, assess its value and charge people for its use.  That is contrary to the America many of us believe in, and contrary to the reality that free markets should determine the price of commodities.

Small businesses, families, and young workers would have to pay an additional charge to turn on the light switch, to fill up the gas tank, or do whatever it is that Washington regulates.   Has the President or the Speaker considered the impact of these tax increases?  I don’t think the American people, especially during these tough times,  want Washington to tell us what kind of fuel to use, what kind of car to drive, when we can turn on our lights – and then taxing us to do so.

It’s time to stop the madness.  Putting aside, for the moment, the recent global warming scandal, the resignation of Phil Jones, and the serious questions surrounding his research, the President and the Speaker have far more pressing problems to worry about here at home – namely stopping runaway spending, getting our fiscal house back in order, and working on some common-sense solutions that get Americans back to work.