A press release from Joe Walsh:
Rep. Walsh Returns Personal Budget Funds to U.S. Treasury
Joins Other Members in Requesting these Funds be Used to Pay Down the Debt
WASHINGTON- Congressman Joe Walsh (IL-8), along with seven colleagues, sent a letter to Speaker Boehner that requested the returned Members Representational Allowance (MRA) funds leftover from the first session of the 112th Congress be used to pay down the national debt.
From these eight offices [no others from Illinois], over $1.4 million in taxpayer money will be given back to the U.S. Treasury.
Each member is allocated roughly $1.5 million for their yearly office budget.
Walsh stated:
Joe Walsh
“Since day one, I promised to fight for lower taxes, less spending, and a balanced budget.
“The national debt has spiraled out of control and is now nearly the size of the entire U.S. economy.
“Americans have seen big government policies try to fix this problem, but big government is the problem.
“The place to start is at home, which is why I am giving back almost $200,000 in taxpayer funds that must be used to pay down the debt.
“One of my first votes as a member of Congress was to cut Congressional budgets by 5 percent.
“While that was a good start, I did not think that cut went far enough so I am giving almost 15 percent of my entire budget back to pay down the national debt.
“Every day we ask that the American people tighten their belt and it is time that we do the same.
“This is not our money, it’s the American taxpayer’s money and that is why I am proud to do my part in returning these funds.”
Excellent! Good job, Joe.
Very noble gesture, but with government is it use it or lose it. Since it wasn’t spent, it didn’t add to the deficit.
Can anyone figure out what percentage of the budget this would be. My calculator doesn’t have enough zeroes after the decimal point. Oh, and the other thing, while you are busy making pointless gestures, stop the payment for wars in Iraq and Afganistan (that will save 30 billion per month).