U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., stepped up to the plate last week to sponsor a proposal backed by Florida Congressman Connie Mack that they maintain will reduce the size and scope of the federal government and balance the budget by 2019.
The proposal -- which also has the backing of three of Macks Sunshine State Republican colleagues in the House, in Jeff Miller, Dennis Ross and Allen West -- would mandate a 1 percent reduction in federal spending from 2012 until 2017, before imposing a spending cap in 2018. That cap would mandate the total cost of the federal government not to exceed 18 percent of the total Gross Domestic Product. Mack and Enzi labeled the bill the One Percent Spending Reduction Act of 2011.
This proposal is simple, effective and real, said Enzi on Thursday. Thats a winning combination that I hope my colleagues can get behind. If they cant, I hope the people who elect them will.
Enzi estimated that the measure would cut $7.5 trillion from the federal government over the next decade.
Fiscal sanity in Washington begins with returning to one of the most basic functions of government -- watching out for taxpayer dollars, said Enzi. If Congress cant reduce spending by a single percentage point, each year, it basically has given up and decided to leave this huge and growing debt pile to tower above our children and grandchildren, casting a grand shadow over their future.
When he introduced the measure in May, Mack insisted that his proposal will reduce the maximum cost of all federal operations from $3.382 trillion in 2012 to $3.184 trillion by 2018. While the proposal will establish spending caps that the federal government cannot exceed, Mack said that he hoped that Congress and the president would team up to find solutions to produce the 1 percent reductions before imposing the 1 percent spending cuts across the board. The measure won the support of the One Cent Solution, a group with ties to Citizens for Restoring Americas Financial Future, which is looking to reduce the national debt and balance the budget
Despite Democrats controlling the U.S. Senate, Mack insisted that there was growing support for his proposal.
There is a growing chorus for the Penny Plan, and with Senator Enzis support today the plan is taking on a life in the U.S. Senate, said Mack on Friday. Every time Washington spends more money, our freedom and security are in jeopardy. Our deficits and debt hang around us like an albatross, and last November American voters sent a clear message to their elected officials that enough is enough when it comes to Washingtons appetite for spending.
Mack also slammed Obama for not being serious about cutting spending -- and for attacking Congress for having no plans to do so.
The Congress has a plan its the Mack-Enzi Penny Plan, insisted Mack. Is it too much to ask the federal government to do the same and eliminate one penny out of every federal dollar spent?
With buzz growing that U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will soon be out of the administration, Mack said it could not come quickly enough.
"As I have said repeatedly, Secretary Timothy Geithner needs to be removed and replaced with someone more independent of Wall Street and the reckless, liberal spending habits of this administration which continues to believe the government can spend its way to prosperity, said Mack.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
