Representative Tom Price, Chairman
Committee on Budget
U.S. House of Representatives
207 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Price:

On behalf of the undersigned organizations and our combined memberships, we urge you to draft a fiscal year (FY) 2016 Budget Resolution that maintains the budget caps and savings promised to taxpayers under the Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011.

Recent news articles point to an effort by some to get Congress to break the caps set for Pentagon spending. But to be clear, BCA spending levels for FY16 – in both defense and non-defense discretionary spending – actually exceed the levels enacted for FY15. The President’s proposal to jettison the caps and increase Pentagon spending by roughly $35 billion more than the approximately half trillion dollars set by the BCA is fiscally irresponsible and unnecessary. Although some have maligned the BCA, its budget caps have effectively curbed excessive spending. Any effort to modify it must be done in a way that keeps promises made to taxpayers. Fiscal discipline is needed across the federal government and that includes defense spending.

We also understand there is pressure to make an end-run around the BCA caps by increasing the already generous $51 billion requested for the emergency Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account. As you know, OCO has already gained a reputation as a slush fund as more and more base budget items are being funded through this “off budget” account. We urge you to resist these efforts and to scrutinize the Administration’s use of OCO.

Much of the recent press on the Pentagon budget revolves around the specter of the return of across-the-board sequestration cuts supposedly wreaking havoc on defense planning. The simple fact is that, if the budget hews to the spending levels set out in the BCA, there are no “meat axe” across-the-board-cuts, just responsible budgeting.

Again, we urge you to keep promises the President and Congress made to taxpayers and draft the fiscal year 2016 Budget Resolution to meet the Budget Control Act requirements.

For further information, please contact Wendy Jordan at Wendy[at]taxpayer.net, or (202)-546-8500 x. 114

Sincerely,

Americans for Tax Reform
Campaign for Liberty
Coalition to Reduce Spending
Council for Citizens Against Government Waste
National Taxpayers Union
Niskanen Center
R Street Institute
Taxpayers for Common Sense
Taxpayers Protection Alliance