Today, American Commitment joined with other conservative organizations in voicing support for the Unauthorized Spending Accountability (USA) Act of 2016. If enacted, the USA Act would play a critical role in tightening the belt of our bloated federal budget.
The USA Act would automatically cut and then terminate spending on programs whose legal authorizations have lapsed.
While this may seem like common sense, in a letter to the bill’s author, Republican Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the coalition points out that “in fiscal year (FY) 2016, Congress appropriated $310.4 billion to 256 programs and activities that are no longer authorized.” Even worse, this amounts to “more than half of the non-defense discretionary budget.”
In addition to targeting the waste, fraud and abuse in the discretionary budget, the USA Act would also establish a commission that would conduct reviews of federal programs funded by mandatory spending. The commission would have the ability to recommend eliminating or reducing funding for programs it finds to be unsuccessful or unnecessary.
American Commitment hopes that the USA Act will be quickly passed by the House of Representatives. This critical legislation will give Congress better tools to rein in the out of control federal spending that is driving up our debt, and harming our economy. American Commitment is proud to join with its free market allies in supporting this bill.
USA Act Coalition Letter