Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) outlined in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News how Congress can adopt realistic but strong measures to rein in spending as part of a debt ceiling negotiation.
Blackburn was one of 24 Senate Republicans who wrote a letter to Biden urging him to adopt spending reforms that would drastically alter America’s spending habits.
“Americans are keenly aware that their government is not only failing to work for them – but actively working against them,” the Senate Republicans wrote. “We do not intend to vote for a debt-ceiling increase without structural reforms to address current and future fiscal realities and manage out-of-control government policies.”
The Tennessee Republican, now a member of the Senate Finance Committee, will serve as a key member in the fight to curb inflation, as well as focus on other issues such as trade, taxation, and health care.
Blackburn noted that every year, she introduces proposals to cut spending by either one, two, or five percent across the federal budget. This includes agencies such as the Departments of Commerce, Justice, Agriculture, Interior, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development.
“This is a good way to get that discretionary spending under control,” Blackburn explained. “Anybody can save a penny or a nickel out of $1 and our federal agencies need to be held to that standard.”
She noted that during the debt ceiling negotiations that ended up in the compromise known as the Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011, they adopted her two percent across-the-board cuts. The BCA contained $917 billion in deficit reduction over ten years, which occurred primarily through caps on discretionary funding.
Here is an August 2011 video of then-Rep. Blackburn describing her support for the Budget Control Act:
Blackburn, along with Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN), introduced the IRS User Fee Reduction Act on Thursday, which would require the IRS to reduce user fees by 95 percent for businesses earning less than $2.5 million in gross income.
“The IRS claims to go after the wealthy, but has continued to target small businesses and lower- and middle-income earners. As a lifelong Main Street businessman, I know that the last thing America’s small business owners need right now is for the IRS to hike user fees,” Braun said in a written statement on Thursday.
In reaction to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) negotiations with President Joe Biden over the debt ceiling, Blackburn said, “We look forward to supporting the spending cuts and spending reductions that House Republicans are able to bring forward.”
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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