Supercommittee Squanders Opportunity to Cut Waste

A Joint Statement by NJPIRG and the National Taxpayers Union

NJPIRG

TRENTON– After the Congressional “Supercommittee” announced its failure to agree on at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction, the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group (NJPIRG) and the National Taxpayers Union (NTU), who jointly authored a report on deficit reduction earlier this year, released the following joint statement:

“Following months of partisan bickering, the Supercommittee has squandered a major opportunity to cut truly wasteful spending and special interest handouts.

Some budget choices should not have been tough. Though NJPIRG and NTU seldom agree on tax and fiscal policy, we were able to find common ground on 56 specific deficit reduction measures adding up to over $1 trillion dollars in savings for taxpayers. These cuts represent the low-hanging fruit of the federal budget that unfortunately will remain unpicked.

This was an historic opportunity to finally eliminate outdated and inefficient programs and slash wasteful corporate subsidies that everyone should be able to agree are poor uses of taxpayer dollars.

The Supercommittee’s complete inaction leaves intact the billions of dollars in handouts to big agricultural businesses and a program that pays to clean up old mines that have already been cleaned, to name some of the more egregious examples of waste.

Though the Supercommittee failed to seize an opportunity, Congress still has time to tackle waste and cut where there is common ground. Our joint report offers them a roadmap that we hope they’ll follow.”

The New Jersey Public Interest Research Group is a nonprofit, nonpartisan consumer advocacy group. Follow us online at www.facebook.com/njpirg and www.twitter.com/njpirg.

The National Taxpayers Union (NTU) is America’s independent, non-partisan advocate for overburdened taxpayers.