In the News

Amid massive deficits, Republicans craft plan to balance federal budget in 7 years

Nicholas Ballasy, Just the News

Washington, DC, June 14, 2022
The House Republican Study Committee believes its new budget proposal can balance the federal budget in 7 years, in part by wiping out funding for programs near and dear to liberals such as the National Endowment for the Arts.

The RSC budget includes $16.6 trillion in savings over a 10-year period, according to the text of the proposal, The Blueprint to Save America.

The committee, the ideas arm for the House GOP, finds taxpayer savings in part by eliminating the NEA and the National Endowment for the Humanities, eliminating subsidies for the the John F. Kennedy Center of the Arts, the National Labor Relations Board, reducing funding for the Environmental Protection Agency, and prohibiting taxpayer funding for Obama-era school-lunch standards.

The committee's budget proposal also would eliminate funding for the D.C. metro system, ban federal funding of Amtrak and stop issuing taxpayer-funded EPA grants.

"The EPA allocates billions of dollars annually to grant programs for community-level educational programs and events to promote 'Environmental Justice,'" the budget proposal says. "These programs and events amount to little more than a propaganda session."

The budget also calls for a "fully funded border wall" as well as reinstating "the effective Remain in Mexico Policy" as well as closing asylum loopholes. Biden ended Remain in Mexico after taking office. Under the Trump-era policy, illegal immigrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border would have to wait in Mexico until a court hearing to determine their fates.

The committee's budget includes ways to "unleash" American energy, including reinstating the Keystone XL pipeline, which Biden cancelled through an executive order. The budget would also allow permits for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which was halted by Biden. It also includes reforming the oil drilling permit process.

Indiana Rep. Jim Banks, chairman of the Republican Study Committee, said House Democrats in Washington should be focused on ways to reduce inflation rather than holding a series of public hearings related to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot.

"This is the old playbook: change the subject, change the subject away from gas prices and inflation and fentanyl as the leading cause of death of Americans aged 18 to 45 because of Biden's border policies. Whatever they can do to change the subject they're going to do it, and January 6 is the place that they usually turn back to," Banks said on the Just the News Not Noise TV program.

"But I don't think the American people are buying it. They're going to tune it out. They're sick of it. They're demanding that leaders step up and solve the problems that are affecting American families. They know Democrats aren't the ones doing it."

The national debt is currently above $30 trillion. In FY2021, the deficit was $2.8 trillion. Inflation is at a 40-year high of 8.6% and gas prices have climbed to over an average of $5 per gallon nationally.

"A fiscally responsible budget isn’t just for conservatives – it’s for all Americans. The RSC budget prioritizes smart, common-sense policy to empower workers and save our country from a debt disaster. When Washington spends less, American families have more," RSC Budget and Spending Task Force Chair Rep. Kevin Hern said in a statement. 

Banks said the U.S. government has spent taxpayer funds at a "faster rate over the past two years than at any point" in U.S. history.

"It’s not a coincidence that Americans are worse off than they’ve been in years. Reckless spending has failed, and conservatives in Congress should take the opportunity to course-correct, rein in spending and save America from a dire fiscal future," he said.