Congressman Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) is asking folks in Michigan to make their voices heard in the effort to cut out-of-control spending in Washington.  This week, the House Economic Recovery Solutions Group unveiled an interactive program called YouCut, an online initiative that empowers the American people to vote for specific spending cuts as House Republicans seek to cut wasteful government spending.

Each week, YouCut will offer the public a list of five proposals aimed at reducing government spending.  In turn, participants may vote for the one proposal that they would most like to see addressed by Congress.  The following week, House Republicans will seek a vote on the House Floor on whether or not to take up and debate the top vote getter selected by the public. 

“YouCut is an innovative effort that empowers folks in Michigan and across the country to have their voices heard in this critical effort to cut wasteful spending,” said Upton.  “The President and Speaker Pelosi are spending our nation towards bankruptcy.  The deficit for this year alone is $1.5 trillion and the portion of debt per every man woman, and child is over $46,000, and that figure continues to grow.  It is well past time Congress reflects the ‘will of the people’ and starts voting to end reckless spending.”   

Votes may be cast online on the Republican Whip’s website at http://republicanwhip.house.gov/YouCut, or by text messaging one’s vote to 68398.  Folks may also access YouCut via Upton’s website at www.house.gov/upton.

The Director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Douglas Elmendorf, recently stated that our nation’s present fiscal path is “unsustainable” and the problem “cannot be solved through minor tinkering.”  An earlier report by CBO found that the President’s record $3.8 trillion budget for FY 2011 will drive our debt to an alarming 90 percent of the economy by 2020.

Upton supports a number of commonsense reforms to restore fiscal discipline in Washington, such as the earmark ban and line-item veto.  He is also a cosponsor of the Spending Limit Amendment to the Constitution (H.J.Res.79) to limit spending to one-fifth of the economy – the historical average since World War II. Such measures are necessary to limit spending as CBO estimates the President’s budget increases government spending to an alarming average of 24.1 percent of GDP over the next decade.