{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20151215024933/http://chaffetz.house.gov:80/press-release/house-passes-fy-2015-cr-omnibus", "House Passes FY 2015 CR-Omnibus", "2014-12-12", "2014", "2014-12", "Republican", "House", "UT", "Jason Chaffetz", "C001076", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "Like all appropriations bills, this year's appropriations bill has several problems and budget gimmicks, but fortunately this bill has more good than bad. It's an imperfect compromise, but it avoids a government shutdown while dramatically slowing the growth in discretionary spending. \nIn actual dollars, total discretionary spending will have decreased for the fifth consecutive year. Total discretionary budget authority, including disaster, emergency, and war spending, will be about $1.1 trillion in fiscal year 2015, which will be even lower than budget authority for fiscal year 2008 despite seven years of inflation, population growth, and GDP growth. For this reason,\u00a0I voted yes for the Fiscal Year 2015 Continuing Resolution Omnibus.\nThis appropriations bill continues the trend of reducing total discretionary spending relative to GDP. Discretionary spending relative to GDP has fallen dramatically since the stimulus was enacted and is now even lower than it was prior to the stimulus. In 2007, total discretionary spending equaled 7.5% of GDP. In 2009, total discretionary spending peaked at 10.4% of GDP. However, in 2015, total discretionary spending will approach 6.1% of GDP. These figures include all discretionary spending such as base, disaster, emergency, and war spending.\nThe federal government has serious long-term budget problems, but discretionary spending is not the main driver of our future deficits. Entitlement spending \u2014 which is NOT addressed in appropriations bills \u2014 is the primary threat to our nation's economic future. Congress should be focusing more on entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Three years ago, I introduced a Social Security reform proposal. You can view this proposal on my website at\u00a0http://chaffetz.house.gov/issue/social-security\nBesides restricting the growth in discretionary spending, is there anything else that's good about this bill?\nYes, several items important to Utah and other western states were addressed in the bill. First, the omnibus prohibits the Fish and Wildlife Service from issuing rules to place the sage-grouse and the Gunnison-sage grouse on the Endangered Species list during the current fiscal year. This is a major victory for Utah.\nSecond, the omnibus, along with the National Defense Authorization Act, fully funds PILT at $442 million. PILT is an important source of funding for rural counties that have very large amounts of federally owned land.\nWhat about defunding President Obama's executive order on illegal immigrants?\nThe omnibus/continuing resolution will only provide funding for the Department of Homeland Security until February 27, 2015. The 114th Congress will be forced to revisit this issue and address the President\u2019s executive order on Immigration before this date.\u00a0 Many of the midterm campaigns revolved around the issue of immigration, and I believe these new members,\u00a0including\u00a0a new Republican majority in the Senate, should be involved in reversing the President's order.\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20151215024933/http://chaffetz.house.gov:80/press-release/house-passes-fy-2015-cr-omnibus"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5469009522348642, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}