Today, Americans for Tax Reform is joined by 45 groups representing millions of concerned taxpayers in supporting the House GOP Budget Resolution, authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis). The budget, on the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote today, represents a serious and ambitious proposal to curb the country's debt, restore restraint in government spending and reform the tax code. From our letter:
The FY 2012 House GOP Budget Resolution addresses this untenable growth by bringing discretionary spending to below pre-bailout, pre-“stimulus” levels, and instituting statutory caps to keep spending in line with economic growth. The plan also encourages commonsense reform to ease the burden of government, such as decreasing federal payrolls by attrition and streamlining agencies by eliminating duplication and overlap.
Recognizing that non-defense, discretionary spending accounts for less than a fifth of the entire overspending problem, your budget plan calls for unprecedented and courageous mandatory spending reform. The budget proposes block-granting Medicaid to the states, while transitioning Medicare to a system that allows younger recipients to choose their own health care. The proposal also establishes Congressional review of mandatory spending, effectively ending “autopilot” growth in entitlements.
The budget also tackles welfare programs not included in the successful reforms of the last decade, block-granting housing and other assistance programs to the states. This will untie the hands of local and state lawmakers who are currently incentivized to increase enrollment in programs, rather than using resources to provide helpful assistance to recipients.
Signatories to the letter include: 60 Plus, Alliance for Worker Freedom, American Civil Rights Union, Americans for Job Security, Americans for Tax Reform, Center for Fiscal Accountability, Center for Individual Freedom, Citizen Outreach, Citizens for Limited Taxation, Coalition for a Conservative Majority, ConservativeHQ.com, Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, Dallas Center-Right Coalition, DigitalLiberty.net, Eagle Forum, Florida Center-Right Coalition, Freedom Action, Frontiers of Freedom, Generation Joshua, George Center-Right Coalition,GOProud, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, Harrisburg Center-Right Coalition, Hispanic Leadership Fund, Human Events, Illinois Policy Institute, Indian American Conservative Council, Kentucky Center-Right Coalition, Let Freedom Ring, Liberty Center for Law and Policy, Liberty Counsel, Mississippi Center for Public Policy, National Tax Limitation Committee, National Taxpayers Union, Orlando Center-Right Coalition,Property Rights Alliance, Ron Nehring, Sante Fe Federated Republican Women, Santa Fe Republican Party, Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, Taxpayers Association of Oregon, Taxpayers Protection Alliance, Tea Party Express, Vermont Center-Right Coalition, Young America’s Foundation
Click here to view the letter in its entirety.