Protecting Hardworking Taxpayers and Getting Our Fiscal House in Order

The current budget deficit, created by generations of lawmakers in Washington, is a serious problem that did not get created overnight and will not get solved overnight either.  But by working together, we can take commonsense steps that will move our country in the right direction.

Like so many across our district, I learned at a young age that balancing the family pocketbook and living within our means is a question of values.  I believe that what we cannot do is balance the federal budget on the backs of middle class families, seniors, students and veterans while cutting taxes for big oil companies, corporations that ship our jobs overseas and millionaires and billionaires on Wall Street.

What we can, and should do, is start by rooting out instances of government waste, fraud and abuse so that we can strengthen Medicare and expand Social Security.

That’s why as my first piece of legislation, I introduced the Government Waste Reduction Act, a common sense bill that would reduce duplicative services and root out waste in government, while preserving crucial services and programs.  And in 2015, I introduced and passed The Improper Payments Coordination Act to save taxpayer dollars by utilizing 21st century data analytics to eliminate improper payments and rein in waste and fraud across federal agencies.

There’s still a lot of work ahead to get Washington in order, but I’m committed to using my watchdog role in Congress to protect hardworking taxpayers.