‘Dollar-for-Dollar Act’ would reduce spending by trillions; cut deficit in half in a decade

MARIETTA, Ga. – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., again co-sponsored legislation recently that would require Congress to make spending cuts on a dollar-for-dollar basis when it votes to raise the debt limit.

Under the Dollar-for-Dollar Deficit Reduction Act, S.333, reductions in spending would take place over a 10-year period, and because all spending reductions would be offset from within federal programs, additional savings to the interest on the debt would also grow after the 10-year period.

“Our U.S. federal debt is already at an unsustainable level of $19 trillion and has been rising consistently,” said Isakson. “While this Congress is taking steps with our new administration to cut federal spending, this commonsense legislation would help further those efforts.”

Projected results of the legislation would not only reduce spending by $2.5 trillion over the next decade and more than $5 trillion over the following decade, but also would reduce spending below 23.4 percent to 20.8 percent of the gross domestic product by 2027 and would cut the projected deficit in half by 2027.

Specifically, the Dollar-for-Dollar Deficit Reduction Act will make the “dollar-for-dollar” rule a permanent debt-limit policy to ensure that any increase in the debt limit corresponds with spending cuts. In addition, the bill will:

• Require the U.S. Treasury secretary to notify Congress 60 calendar days before the debt limit is to be reached and extraordinary measures undertaken. 
  • Require that any presidential request to raise the debt limit be accompanied by a proposal to cut non-interest spending by an equal or greater amount over the next decade;
  • Require that any legislation to increase the debt limit include non-interest spending cuts of an equal or greater amount over the next decade, subject to a point of order; and
  • Prohibit the use of timing shifts and expiring emergency spending to reach the spending savings target.

The legislation was introduced by U.S. Senator Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and in addition to Isakson, was co-sponsored by U.S. Sens. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

Isakson is committed to working to pass legislation to curb federal spending and to demand more accountability from programs that receive federal dollars. On Feb. 6, 2017, he again introduced biennial budgeting legislation to reform the federal budget process by converting it from an annual spending process to a two-year cycle with one year for appropriating federal dollars and the other year devoted to oversight of federal programs.

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