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Budgeting and Fiscal

Responsibility

by Congressman Francis Rooney
T he most important duty of the federal government is to on an unused email archiving service. These infuriating examples of

waste are just a few of hundreds. While this illustrates how bad the
pass a fiscally responsible budget. This would be a budget
which funds basic services, honors the commitments made
We need the paradigm shift reflected in the Trump budget.
for social security, and provides for the defense and security of system has become, there are more fundamental issues at stake.
our nation and its borders. For far too long we have suffered from This budget cuts spending. It focuses on holding agencies and
irresponsible government spending that has failed to provide for programs accountable for waste and duplication of efforts, while
these basic needs, while wasting our hard earned taxpayer dollars providing the funding necessary to secure our borders and rebuild
in failed efforts to pick winners and losers, fund inefficiency ($535 our military. It is a budget for limited government.
million wasted on Solyndra, billions for renewable fuel standards, As Congress begins its budget process, I hope earnestly for, and
and funding of over $1 billion per year to prop up the failing will fight for, a conservative budget that sets a limit on spending.
private sector business known as AMTRAK, for example) and We owe this to the next generation.
advance a social engineering agenda that is out of touch with all
but the far left. CONTACT OUR OFFICES
We need to realize that the current amount of spending is
unsustainable. Our national debt will soon exceed $20 trillion
Lee County Office
dollars, which is an obscene burden that should not be passed
1039 S.E. 9th Place • Suite 308 | Cape Coral, FL 33990
on to our children and grandchildren. As President Reagan once
Phone: 239.599.6033
said; “We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t
taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend Collier County Office
too much.” Any budget that Congress considers must lead to an 3299 Tamiami Trail East • Suite 105 | Naples, FL 34112
eventual elimination of the national debt. Phone: 239.252.6225
In the FY 2017 budget, the federal government has wasted
your tax dollars on: $74 million for a program that allows taxpayer- Washington, DC Office
backed loans to be repaid with peanuts (really, peanuts), $5 million 120 Cannon House Office Building | Washington, DC 20515
to study the partying habits of fraternities and sororities, $3.4 Phone: 202.225.2536
million for hamster cage fight matches and $12 million by the IRS

14 Life in Naples | May • June • July 2017