Returning to Fiscal Responsibility

Fiscal Responsibility Act

In our fight to return the House to principles of conservativism and freedom, House Republicans passed the Limit, Save, Grow Act in April to make significant spending reforms and responsibly lift the debt ceiling to avoid default. This effort is part of a larger effort to reform Washington and make it work in a better way for the American people. To learn more about the broader efforts in the House, please click here.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act is a product of the divided government the American people elected, but this bill also successfully shifts government spending without any significant concessions to Democrats and is the largest spending cut that Congress has ever voted for in history. The legislation cuts year-over-year spending, claws back billions in unspent COVID-19 funds, implements commonsense work requirements for welfare programs, scales back the Biden administration’s supercharged IRS, places necessary constraints on President Biden’s spending, cuts through red tape for energy projects, and keeps our commitments to veterans, while avoiding default. This bill alone, will not solve the entire fiscal disaster we find ourselves in, but it does take a desperately needed step in the right direction. 

Since 2013, the debt ceiling has been raised nine times, yet not a single time was the deficit reduced, overall spending decreased, or even non-defense spending decreased. The Fiscal Responsibility Act reduces all three, fundamentally changes the trajectory of our spending, and lays the groundwork for more reforms, including a balanced budget, which I have long championed in Washington. For months, President Biden refused to negotiate until his position became untenable, and he came to the table and agreed to rein in his spending agenda. This is just the start as we embark on the work to restore fiscal sanity in Washington.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act: 

Stop Endless Spending

  • Cut spending year-over-year, including a rollback of non-defense discretionary spending to FY22 Levels; fully fund VA medical
  • Limit topline federal spending to 1% annual growth for the next 6 years

Clawing Back Billions of COVID-19 Funds

  • Cut $400M from the CDC “Global Health Fund” that sends taxpayer money to China and billions in other programs for the largest total rescissions package in history

Rein in Executive Overreach

  • Enact into law the first-ever statutory Administrative Pay-Go to hold President Biden accountable for the full cost of executive rules and regulations, which should save taxpayers trillions

Cut Red-tape, Unleash Energy

  • Accelerate projects and cut costs with the first significant reform to NEPA since 1982

Slash Biden's Supercharged Audits on Middle Class

  • Nix the total FY23 staffing funding request for new IRS agents

Stop Loaded Omnibuses

  • Compel a functioning appropriations process by imposing a temporary 99% CR-level cap until all 12 appropriations bills are enacted

Restart Student Loan Repayments

  • Require borrowers to be responsible for paying off their student loan debts, saving taxpayers an estimated $5B per month

Lift Up Americans

  • Enact consequential reforms to SNAP and TANF to save taxpayer dollars, get Americans back to work, and grow the economy

Protect National Security & Veterans

  • Ensure full funding for critical veterans programs and national defense priorities, while preserving Social Security and Medicare

Block Biden's New Tax Scheme

  • Reject all of Biden’s $5 trillion in proposed new tax increases, new government mandates, and new federal programs
Fiscal Responsibility projected chart