VOINOVICH: "I went to Washington to reduce the deficit and balance the budget. At the same time, my colleagues were spending money like drunken sailors."
FINGERHUT: "This is truly a Voinovich deficit," Fingerhut shot back, referring to the record
$413 billion federal shortfall for fiscal year 2004. He blamed Voinovich for the size of deficit because he supported three major tax cuts. "No matter how many times Sen. Voinovich calls himself a deficit hawk, it doesn't make it true," Fingerhut said.
Source: OH Senate Debate, in The Columbia Dispatch
Oct 23, 2004
Voted NO on paying down federal debt by rating programs' effectiveness.
Amendment intends to pay down the Federal debt and eliminate government waste by reducing spending on programs rated ineffective by the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART).
Proponents recommend voting YES because:
My amendment says we are going to take about $18 billion as a strong signal from the Congress that we want to support effective programs and we want the taxpayer dollars spent in a responsible way. My amendment doesn't take all of the $88 billion for the programs found by PART, realizing there may be points in time when another program is not meeting its goals and needs more money. So that flexibility is allowed in this particular amendment. It doesn't target any specific program.
Almost worse than being rated ineffective, we have programs out there that have made absolutely no effort at all to measure their results. I believe these are the worst offenders. In the following years, I hope Congress will look at those programs to create accountability.
Opponents recommend voting NO because:
The effect of this amendment will simply be to cut domestic discretionary spending $18 billion. Understand the programs that have been identified in the PART program are results not proven. Here are programs affected: Border Patrol, Coast Guard search and rescue, high-intensity drug trafficking areas, LIHEAP, rural education, child abuse prevention, and treatment. If there is a problem in those programs, they ought to be fixed. We ought not to be cutting Border Patrol, Coast Guard search and rescue, high-intensity drug trafficking areas, LIHEAP, rural education, and the rest. I urge a "no" vote.
Voted YES on $40B in reduced federal overall spending.
Vote to pass a bill that reduces federal spending by $40 billion over five years by decreasing the amount of funds spent on Medicaid, Medicare, agriculture, employee pensions, conservation, and student loans. The bill also provides a down-payment toward hurricane recovery and reconstruction costs.
Reference: Work, Marriage, and Family Promotion Reconciliation Act;
Bill S. 1932
; vote number 2005-363
on Dec 21, 2005
Voted YES on prioritizing national debt reduction below tax cuts.
Vote to table [kill] an amendment that would increase the amount of the budget that would be used to reduce the national debt by $75 billion over 5 year. The debt reduction would be offset by reducing the tax cut in the budget framework from $150 billion
Voinovich signed the Midwestern Governors' Conference resolution:
WHEREAS, the Federal Milk Marketing Order System was created in 1937 to provide economic incentives to dairy farmers in order to provide sufficient fresh fluid milk for all Americans; and
WHEREAS, the Federal Milk Marketing Order System has served its original purpose and the creation of the Interstate Highway System and refrigeration trucks have allowed fresh fluid milk to be easily transported throughout the country; and
WHEREAS, studies show that dairy producers in the Midwest have comparative advantages that allow them to produce products more economically than dairy producers in other regions, yet under current conditions, our family dairy farmers and our states’ dairy infrastructure are at risk; and
WHEREAS, the dairy industries in our states provide a vital underpinning of our states’ economies; and
WHEREAS, the United States Department of Agriculture should foster dairy production that is market driven; and
WHEREAS, the 1996 Farm Bill charged the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to substantially reform and simplify the Federal Milk Marketing Order System; and
WHEREAS, regional pricing solutions, such as compacts, could impede efforts to promote a market-oriented system and erect barriers to the export of dairy products from our states; now therefore be it
RESOLVED, that the United States Department of Agriculture move forward to implement a new, streamlined system that more closely reflects the true national dairy market and that does not provide an unjustified pricing advantage or disadvantage to any region of the country.
Source: Resolution of Midwestern Governors' Conf. on Dairy Reform 98-MGC1 on Feb 24, 1998
