Rep. Mike Burgess, R-Texas, told Newsmax on Wednesday that the GOP budget proposal unveiled earlier this week is a "blueprint" to save the country $16 trillion over the next 10 years.
"[The] markup of this [proposed GOP] budget will save more than $16.5 trillion over the next 10 years, and that's the blueprint for going forward with a more sustainable spending future," Burgess said during "The Record with Greta Van Susteren" on Wednesday.
"The important thing is that we're actually doing a budget. I mean, this is something that Congress has gotten away from in recent years."
Roll Call reported Tuesday that the spending plan provides a "blueprint" to bring the federal budget, which is currently some $33 trillion in the red, into balance in the next decade.
According to the report, the plan tightens social net spending and relies on strong future growth in the economy.
The "mark-up" comes five months after the April 15 budget submission deadline imposed by a 1974 law for adopting such measures and has little chance of passing the Democratically controlled Senate, the report said.
"Our muscle as Republicans for fiscal responsibility has atrophied over the years, and we're trying to rebuild that," Roll Call reported House Budget Chair Jodey C. Arrington, R-Texas, telling reporters. "And so, it's like going back into the weight room when you haven't been there in a long time."
Burgess said he is also aware of the Sept. 30 government funding deadline, which he said is more of an issue for Congress than the government shutting down departments.
"Make no mistake about it, the Sept. 30 deadline is real," he said. "I prefer to refer to that as an appropriations lapse. Nothing is going to shut down, and this is critical for people to understand, all of the federal agencies are awash in cash right now."
Burgess said that the Environmental Protection Agency currently has enough money "lying around," including unspent and non-obligated funds, to keep the agency running for the next three years if nothing is done.
The problem, he said, is that the executive branch would take total control of all of the spending until Congress reaches a deal to keep funding the government.
"The problem is going forward [President Joe Biden's] administration will get to call the shots," he said. "So, we essentially will have one branch of government, which would be the Biden administration, and that would be absolutely unacceptable."
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