GOP House Committee Seeks Entitlement Cuts

It’s common knowledge that the budget deficit won’t come down much without cuts in entitlements. And Republican members of the House Appropriations Committee are asking President Barack Obama to address that need, The Hill reports.

Wolf

The $100 billion in spending cuts the committee agreed upon last week apply to discretionary spending, which makes up only 16 percent of the federal budget. Committee member Steve LaTourette, R-Ohio, noted that despite all the “gnashing of teeth,” the cuts are “small potatoes” compared to entitlement spending.

Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., who chairs the House Appropriations Commerce-Justice-Science subcommittee, says Obama’s 2012 budget request should reflect the conclusions of the president’s debt commission. “He has got to embrace the Bowles-Simpson commission, he has got to talk about entitlements, that is where the money will come from,” Wolf said.