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December 14, 2009

Isakson votes against spending bill

Submitted by Sen. Isakson's office

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., Sunday voted against a massive $1.1 trillion spending bill that would fund a number of domestic and State department programs.

The Senate approved the conference report by a vote of 57-35.

“Our economy is still recovering from one of the worst recessions in our nation’s history. American families aren’t spending far and away above their means, and the federal government shouldn’t be either,” Isakson said. “This type of spending, especially when combined with the $787 billion stimulus and the proposed $2.5 trillion health care bill, is unsustainable and ultimately creates debt that will fall on the backs of future generations and inevitably will lead to higher taxes on all Americans.”

The conference report includes the Commerce-Justice-Science, Financial Services, Labor-HHS-Education, Military Construction-VA, State-Foreign Operations and Transportation-HUD appropriations bills for fiscal year 2010. It contains nearly $447 billion in discretionary spending, which is an average increase of 10 percent over fiscal year 2009 levels.

Isakson believes the practice of rolling several appropriations bills into one massive bill at the end of the year and voting on it with little debate has become all too common over the past 20 years.

As a result, Isakson introduced legislation in January to reform the federal budget process by converting it from an annual spending process to a two-year cycle, with one year for appropriating federal dollars and the other year devoted to oversight of federal programs.

“As members of Congress, we are entrusted with the responsibility of spending taxpayer dollars wisely. Our current budget and spending process does not help us meet that responsibility,” Isakson said. “Instead, it creates an atmosphere in which waste is all too common. Biennial budgeting would help encourage fiscal responsibility at a time when all of us agree we must focus more attention on the nation’s bottom line.”

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