Long supported the 4th largest net savings agenda in 2011, saving $408 billion
Posted on May 22, 2012 12:58 pm CDT
The National Taxpayers Union Foundation's (NTUF) Bill Tally project compiles estimates of both government cost and savings estimates for every introduced bill in Congress. NTUF then generates individual reports for Members of Congress based on their sponsorships and co-sponsorships.
NTUF's report shows Rep. Long supported the 4th largest net savings agenda in 2011, saving $408 billion.
BillTally is the most methodical and comprehensive study of Congressional spending legislation. Since 1991, BillTally has computed a “net annual agenda” based on each Senator’s or Representative’s individual sponsorship or co-sponsorship of legislation. This unique approach provides an in-depth look at the fiscal behavior of lawmakers, free from the influence of committees, party leaders, and rules surrounding floor votes. All cost estimates for bills are obtained from third-party sources, Congress Members’ offices, or are calculated from neutral data.
Highlights from the First Session of the 112th Congress include:
- If every piece of non-overlapping spending-related legislation in the House were enacted at once, federal outlays would rise by an additional $1.12 trillion, or $9,513 per household, a year. The Senate’s bundle of legislation would, taken together, add $405.4 billion, or $3,449 per household, to the budget.
- House Members introduced 93 unique savings bills that would save $601. 4 billion.
- On the other side of the Capitol, the Senate collectively introduced $762.1 billion in savings legislation.
- Despite the overall pro-spending agendas, there were more Representatives than ever whose agendas would amount to a “net cut”: 237 total. The previous high was 233 during the 104th Congress.
- The typical House Republican sponsored a net agenda that would reduce spending by a net of $130.2 billion. Across the aisle, the average Democrat backed $496.8 billion in net new spending.
- In the Senate, the average net Republican agenda was $238.7 billion in savings compared to the Senate Democratic average of only $23.7 billion in budget increases.
- Republican freshmen, on average, called for more net budget savings than returning Republicans. First-time Democrat legislators proposed more spending than their veteran colleagues.
- Members of the recently-formed “Tea Party Caucus” offered the most budget cuts with an agenda of $174.5 billion in savings. Other caucuses were on the opposite end of the scale. For example, the Progressive Caucus proposed a budget busting agenda of $950.5 billion. The 2010 electoral impact was very clear as seats that switched from Democratic to Republican “flipped” from an average agenda of $111 billion in spending to $129.9 billion in savings – a difference of $241 billion.
To see the line-by-line individual report on Rep. Long visit http://www.ntu.org/on-capitol-hill/billtally/112th-congress-first-session/billy-long.html
NTUF