TPA Joins Sequestration Coalition

On Thursday November 8, 2012, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) joined with 21 other taxpayer and free market groups to urge Congress to stand firm and hold the line on the budget sequester set forth in the Budget Control Act of 2011. With the federal government facing yet another year of projected deficit spending exceeding $1 trillion, Congress must keep in place the $109 billion in sequestration spending restraint scheduled for 2013. Delaying this action will only make it harder to get our fiscal house in order, in the process weakening our economy, saddling future generations with debt, and further undermining Congress’s credibility to lead. Our nation’s debt has increased by approximately $1.7 trillion since the current sequester mechanism was first developed in August 2011. Permitting these cuts to occur would represent merely a modest first step toward fixing our debt crisis. Even with the Budget Control Act’s sequester and spending caps, total government spending is still expected to grow, albeit at a slightly slower rate. Rather than attempting to subvert the sequester, Congress should be proposing additional cuts to discretionary spending and considering meaningful reform to entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, which pose tremendous threats to our fiscal stability.

Read the full letter below:

November 8, 2012

An Open Letter to Congress: Respect the Sequester’s Goals

Dear Member of Congress:

We the undersigned organizations, representing millions of Americans dedicated to fiscal responsibility, urge you stand firm and hold the line on the budget sequester set forth in the Budget Control Act of 2011. With the federal government facing yet another year of projected deficit spending exceeding $1 trillion, Congress must keep in place the $109 billion in sequestration spending restraint scheduled for 2013. Delaying this action will only make it harder to get our fiscal house in order, in the process weakening our economy, saddling future generations with debt, and further undermining Congress’s credibility to lead.

We understand there are concerns that the sequester will disproportionately affect the defense budget, with 50 percent of the cuts affecting security spending, which accounts for only 20 percent of the overall federal budget. However, this is a product of lawmakers’ unwillingness to consider serious entitlement reform that would confront the true drivers of our debt. Indeed, the BCA prevents practically any reform to mandatory spending, providing additional leverage for spendthrift lawmakers who want to claim the sequester’s impact on discretionary spending is too bitter a pill to swallow.

Furthermore, several of the signatories below have identified specific program savings in the defense and homeland security categories that could amply substitute for the sequester’s so-called “across-the-board” approach. Therefore, while it may be prudent to revise the actual composition of the cuts, it would be unacceptable to reduce or delay the overall amount of spending reductions. As Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH) recently stated, “… the only thing that’s worse than cutting national defense is not having any scheduled cuts at all take place.”

If Congress reverses the cuts or replaces them with future empty promises, it will send a clear message to the American people: Congress is unable to make meaningful spending cuts.

Our nation’s debt has increased by approximately $1.7 trillion since the current sequester mechanism was first developed in August 2011. Permitting these cuts to occur would represent merely a modest first step toward fixing our debt crisis. Even with the Budget Control Act’s sequester and spending caps, total government spending is still expected to grow, albeit at a slightly slower rate. Rather than attempting to subvert the sequester, Congress should be proposing additional cuts to discretionary spending and considering meaningful reform to entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, which pose tremendous threats to our fiscal stability.

Congress should reject any attempts to cut less than $109 billion or worse, to replace spending cuts with tax increases. The only responsible way forward for long-term prosperity is to immediately cut spending and to enact serious budgetary and entitlement reforms. This will require making the tough decisions you were elected to make.

Sincerely,

Pete Sepp, Executive Vice President, National Taxpayers Union

Chris Chocola, President, Club for Growth 

Grover Norquist, President, Americans for Tax Reform 

Andrew Moylan, Outreach Director and Senior Fellow, R Street Institute 

James Valvo, Director of Policy, Americans for Prosperity 

Jeff Frazee, Executive Director, Young Americans for Liberty 

Clyde Wayne Crews, Jr., Vice President of Policy, Competitive Enterprise Institute 

Thomas A. Schatz, President, Council for Citizens Against Government Waste 

Max Pappas, Vice President of Public Policy, FreedomWorks 

David Williams, President, Taxpayers Protection Alliance 

Mattie Duppler, Executive Director, Cost of Government Center 

Matthew J. Brouillette, President and CEO, Commonwealth Foundation 

Paul Gessing,President, Rio Grande Foundation 

Andrew F. Quinlan, President, Center for Freedom and Prosperity 

William Wilson, President, Americans for Limited Government 

Peter J. Thomas, Chairman, The Conservative Caucus 

Jonathan M. Bydlak, President, Coalition to Reduce Spending 

Jim Babka, President, DownsizeDC.org, Inc. 

Lisa Miller, Tea Party WDC 

Phil Kerpen, President, American Commitment 

Mario H. Lopez, President, Hispanic Leadership Fund 

Amy Ridenour, Chairman, National Center for Public Policy Research