(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) its September Porker of the Month for her leading role in the effort to bust the very spending caps she voted for and President Obama agreed to in 2011.

The Budget Control Act (BCA) became law on August 2, 2011 and required that spending be reduced over the following decade by a greater amount than the increase in the federal debt limit.  If Congress failed to agree to sufficient cuts to meet the spending caps, automatic cuts would occur through sequestration.  Since 2011, the BCA has significantly reduced the growth of annual deficits, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s updated 2015 budget projections.

Despite having been one of 74 senators who voted in favor of the BCA in 2011, Senator Mikulski has pushed for lifting the caps and vast increases in spending.  On February 5, 2015, she introduced a bill to lift caps on research grants at the National Institutes of Health.  On September 15, Sen. Mikulski laid out her preferred timeline for funding the government:  “I’d like to get everything done by Thanksgiving, but that would mean a CR where we lift the caps in October and then appropriations doing work in November.”  She repeated her willingness to bust the caps on September 18, stating, “I like November, so that we could lift the caps and so on.”

While Senator Mikulski is not the only Democrat in favor of busting the caps, she is her party’s most senior member on the Senate Appropriations Committee.  That position comes with a prodigious responsibility to advocate for fiscal discipline.  However, she has repeatedly failed to exercise her influence in a constructive manner.

CAGW President Tom Schatz said, “Busting the caps is unacceptable.  The fact that so many in Congress are contemplating ending them is an ominous sign for anyone who favors fiscal restraint and commonsense spending policies.  Following her flip-flop on the BCA, Senator Mikulski has played a leading role in her party’s quest to wipe out the caps.  Her actions have been a disservice to the principles of fiscal responsibility.”

For her repeated attempts to undo vital budget caps and further damage the nation’s fiscal situation, CAGW names Sen. Barbara Mikulski its September Porker of the Month.

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.  Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.