CCAGW Applauds Rep. Toomey for Efforts to Cut Waste
Press Release
For Immediate Release | Contact: Mark Carpenter |
July 10, 2003 | (202) 467-5300 |
“Rep. Toomey is a true hero of the taxpayers,” says Schatz
(Washington, D.C.) The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) commended Rep. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) for his recent hard work in fighting to eliminate wasteful spending in the federal budget. Earlier today, Rep. Toomey introduced an amendment to the fiscal 2004 Labor/Health and Human Services/Education Appropriations bill that would prevent the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from spending approximately $1.5 million on questionable studies. This follows a letter that Rep. Toomey and other House members wrote yesterday to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Joshua Bolten demanding that the $1.9 billion the White House asked for in supplemental fiscal 2003 spending be offset elsewhere in the budget.
“During a time of $400 billion deficits and economic hardship, it is crucial that the government rein in the purse strings and keep spending to a minimum,” CCAGW President Tom Schatz said. “Rep. Toomey understands the importance of fiscal responsibility as exemplified by his actions.”
Rep. Toomey’s amendment would prohibit the NIH from funding the following four studies: “Mood Arousal and Sexual Risk Taking,” “Study on Sexual Habits of Older Men,” “Study on San Francisco’s Asian Prostitutes/Masseuses,” and “Study on American Indian Transgender Research.”
“Surely if these studies were important, researchers could find the money to privately fund the work,” Schatz continued. “Meanwhile, NIH should be using its resources to develop life-saving cures for diseases, such as cancer, that are currently short changed.”
On Tuesday, President Bush submitted a fiscal 2003 supplemental funding request to Congress for fires in western states, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies. While Rep. Toomey recognizes the importance of such funding, he proposed offsets elsewhere in the budget by eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse. Citizens Against Government Waste, CCAGW’s educational arm, identified $22.5 billion in pork-barrel spending in fiscal 2003, far more than enough to cover the $1.9 billion requested in the supplemental appropriations bill.
“There are many ways to pay for necessary programs without increasing the budget,” Schatz concluded. “Other members of Congress should follow Rep. Toomey’s lead and cut wasteful spending rather than just increasing the deficit.”
The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.