REBEKA ZELJKO
Republican Florida Rep. Aaron Bean unveiled a bill Thursday that would take an axe to federal spending programs following a massive foreign aid supplemental that passed in April.
The legislation, titled the Cutting Unobligated Tumultuous Spending (CUTS) Act, would slash over $100 billion in federal spending by rescinding unobligated COVID-19 relief and various climate initiatives. Bean introduced the bill in an attempt to offset the $95 billion foreign aid supplemental that Congress recently gave to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, which was widely rejected by some Republicans for its lack of key border security provisions.
“Americans are tired of the federal government using their paychecks as an ATM,” Bean told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Families across the nation pay their debts and live within their means, and the federal government should do the same.”
The bill would cut funding “to the extent that the sum of such rescinded funds does not exceed the total amount appropriated” under the 2024 Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, the 2024 Ukraine Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, the 2024 Indo-Pacific Security Supplemental Appropriations Act and various other funds.
Some COVID programs that would be cut include portions of the 2020 CARES Act, which provided emergency funding to millions of recipients and dozens of federal agencies during the pandemic. The bill would also cut the Carbon Reduction Program and the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Programs, which provide funding to regulate carbon emissions.
The CARES Act alone spent over $2 trillion of taxpayer money.
“While protecting our interests abroad is necessary for national security, we must turn our attention to tackling one of the greatest threats to America: our debt,” Bean told DCNF. “The CUTS Act will put Americans first by slashing wasteful Green New Deal initiatives and clawing back unspent Covid funds. Northeast Floridians sent me to Washington to champion fiscal responsibility — not advance Crazy Town’s reckless spending, and that’s exactly what I’m doing.”
The U.S. debt currently sits at $34 trillion, $11 trillion of which was added in the last five years, according to the Treasury.
Republican Reps. Mike Collins, Matt Gaetz and Andy Biggs are co-sponsors to the legislation.
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