Boswell Releases Statement on FY2012 Budget Plan to Cut Spending, Generate Revenue

Leonard Boswell

Washington, DC – Today, Congressman Leonard Boswell released the following statement on House Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen’s release of a proposed FY2012 budget and President Obama’s budget statement.

“I am encouraged that Ranking Member Van Hollen and President Obama are tackling both cuts to spending and ways to generate revenue by ending tax expenditures like oil and gas subsidies and mortgage deductions for vacation homes and yachts. Their plans reflect a desire to grow our country through wise investment in those programs and activities which generate income and reduce overall expenses, while balancing a freeze in discretionary spending. It is time we make smart spending cuts with revenue generating measures such as ending billions in tax giveaways to corporations and special interests. Prioritizing is critical in budgeting, and my vote will always be to preserve Medicare benefits for seniors, instead of extending tax cuts for millionaires. Ending Medicare as we know it by privatizing seniors’ health care and doubling their premiums is just cost-shifting and it is the wrong solution to deficit reduction. We need a multi-pronged attack that cuts domestic spending, phases out the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and ends some of the tax subsidies that cost Americans $1 trillion a year. My priority is to bring our budget back into balance with programs and strategies which protect our citizens, strengthen our country, and grow our economy.”

Boswell spoke on the House floor yesterday about balancing spending cuts with revenue-generating activities, and introduced former Iowa Congressman Berkley Bedell’s opinion piece, “Those who own government should help pay for government,” published in the Des Moines Register yesterday, into the congressional record.

You can view the Congressman’s floor statement here.