110th Congress in review: Sali Keeps Fiscal Responsibility Promises to Idahoans

110th Congress in review: Sali Keeps Fiscal Responsibility Promises to Idahoans

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A new report issued by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) says Congressman Bill Sali has voted against more than a trillion dollars in spending while still supporting the nation’s military and veterans.

Sali requested the CRS report as a way of evaluating the fiscal affect of House Appropriations legislation during the 110th Congress. The report says that Sali has voted against $1.16 trillion in federal appropriations spending, while voting for $835 billion in appropriations for defense, military construction and America’s veterans.

"Two years ago I pledged to my constituents that I would vote against bloated federal spending. I’ve taken each spending request one at a time, trying to vote based on what’s best for our kids and grandkids. I had no idea that, totaled up, those ‘no’ votes would be more than a trillion dollars,” said Sali. “If we’re ever going to end deficit spending and balance the budget, we’re going to have to make tough choices, and that means voting no on out-of-control spending by Congress.”

The first bill Sali co-sponsored after taking office in 2007 was H.J.Res 1, the Balanced Budget Amendment.

“The national debt is over nine trillion dollars an estimated increase of more than $600 billion this year. It is immoral to saddle our children and grandchildren with the kind of debt. They will have no real hope of paying it off in their lifetimes. What's worse, the spending priorities in Congress are totally out of whack. Too much of that debt was wasted on bloated programs that just don't deliver the kind of results we would want. Having seen first-hand the way Washington mismanages the taxpayers’ money, my commitment to reigning in federal spending is even stronger than it was when I took the oath of office in January 2007. My votes will continue to reflect Idaho values that oppose big government, wasteful spending and the higher taxes and deficit spending used to pay for it all,” said the Congressman.

"In truth, some of the appropriations bills I have opposed contain spending that I would support. But they include problem spending that are just waste and poorly managed and duplicative programs. We can’t just keep passing spending bills that reflect no serious effort to restrain spending and bring the budget into balance,” Sali concluded.

Sali’s fiscal leadership has been recognized by many groups. Sali has been named a Taxpayer Hero by the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste in recognition for his votes against wasteful government programs and spending. This Congress Sali’s spending consciousness has also been praised by the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Taxpayers Union, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Americans for Tax Reform.