Government Spending Down for Second Year in a Row

As with most things in Washington, this year's appropriations process was slow and frustrating, but the end result is a major victory for fiscal sanity.

On December 16, Congress finalized a fiscal 2012 government appropriations bill that cuts spending for the second consecutive year -- the first time since World War II that government spending has been reduced in back-to-back years. These are real spending cuts that reduce spending by $95 billion compared to fiscal year 2010 and brings non-defense discretionary spending down to 2008 levels.

Even with the determination of conservative legislators and strong public support for spending cuts, obstruction from liberals in Congress threatened to derail efforts to reduce the deficit. Since September 2010, the federal government has been operating under a series of temporary spending measures rather than approving a yearly budget. The failure to enact annual spending measures by the legal deadline boils down to a fundamental difference between the two political parties: Democrats want to spend more and Republicans want to spend less. Congressional Democrats and the Obama White House are so committed to maintaining reckless spending levels that they have brought the government to the brink of shutdown several times this year. The government was facing a shutdown yet again on December 16 when the latest stopgap spending measure was set to expire.

The bill produced by the House Appropriations Committee does more than just remove the threat of a government shutdown. The legislation eliminates 42 government programs and reduces funding for a number of misguided, big government policies. Under this new law, funding for the Department of Energy program that gambled $535 million in the Solyndra debacle is eliminated. Funding for one of the key components of Obamacare is reduced by $400 million and IRS funding is cut by $305 million compared to 2011, hampering the agency's ability to enforce Obamacare provisions like the individual mandate.

While many wasteful, unnecessary programs are eliminated, the legislation ensures that the primary constitutional functions of government are protected. Defense spending, including pay for troops, is increased. The safety of our borders is reinforced by funding the largest number of Border Patrol agents in history.

We certainly have a long way to go to reverse the nation's disastrous spending trajectory. But with two years of budget cuts in a row, we are finally, officially headed in the right direction.