Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio introduced a proposal Tuesday that would allow states refusing federal funds to direct those monies to help pay down the national debt.
Rubio admitted he was inspired by Gov. Rick Scott, who earlier this year turned down federal funds directed toward building a high-speed rail linking Orlando and Tampa.
Rubio dubbed the bill, which is being sponsored in the U.S. House of Representatives by U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., the Returned Exclusively For Unpaid National Debt (REFUND) Act.
Rubios and Rehbergs proposal would allow state legislatures to vote to refuse the federal monies directed toward various projects and reallocate them toward lowering the national debt. The proposal would also require the U.S. Treasury Department to send an annual report to Congress detailing how the monies were allocated to lower the debt. With Democrats in control of the Senate, it has very little chance of passing in the immediate future.
The REFUND Act ends the use-it-or-lose-it mentality that encourages states to take debt-financed cash from Washington that will be a crushing burden on our children and grandchildren, said Rubio. Fiscally responsible state officials should be allowed to divert Washington's spending spree toward debt reduction and do their part to end the practice of spending money we don't have.
It takes a great deal of courage for state officials to take the long view and reject debt-financed federal funds, but this legislation will encourage them to make decisions with their states and nations best interests at heart and without worrying that the money will be spent elsewhere if they dont, continued Rubio. For our childrens and grandchildrens sake, Washingtons dysfunctional culture of borrowing and misspending has to end, and this is one way states can join the fight for this national cause.
In just three pages, the REFUND Act restores a big piece of fiscal sanity to Washington, D.C., insisted Rehberg, who is running for the U.S. Senate in 2012. Its really very simple.If a responsible state tightens its belt to save tax dollars, we shouldnt be rewarding irresponsible states by adding those savings to their take. Weve got to put an end to the Washington system that subjects state lawmakers to partisan attacks for having the audacity to save the taxpayer money. Instead of the wasteful use-it-or-lose-it approach to federal spending, the REFUND Act creates an efficient system that operates on the principle of a dollar saved is a dollar earned.
The proposal has won the backing of fiscal conservative groups including Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) and the National Taxpayers Union (NTU).
Rubio took to the airwaves to talk about the proposal on Tuesday, speaking about it on the Doc Washburn radio show out of Panama City.
The REFUND Act is basically in response to a few things that weve seen lately, the latest was the high-speed rail debate in Florida, where Florida got offered $2 billion to do something and the state of Florida turned it down, and then the money went to somebody else, said Rubio. And so, the argument always is its deficit spending, and we shouldnt be for it, but if someones going to get the money, it might as well be us. Well, the REFUND Act basically says that if you turn down this money, they cant just take it and give it to some other state. Youve got to use it to pay down the debt. And what it does is it prevents the kinds of things that were seeing now, where the administration gleefully goes around bragging about how all these other states got the money instead of us, which theyre basically encouraging people to do --to take the money and to actually lobby on behalf of deficit spending.
"Its very similar to what you saw with the stimulus plan, as well. You had all this money available, and then the administration and supporters of the stimulus plan would taunt people like Florida and say, All right, well I know you guys are against the stimulus, but do you want the money or not, because if not well give it to somebody else. Our answer is that we should have the option of saying, No, you cant give it to somebody else. Take that money and use it to pay down the debt.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (850) 727-0859 end_of_the_skype_highlighting.
