House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) today announced Rep. Fred Upton’s (R-MI) proposal to save taxpayers upwards of $10 billion is this week’s YouCut winner.  Upton’s winning proposal would prohibit the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from hiring thousands of additional agents and employees to enforce the new health care overhaul - the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - saving taxpayers between $5 to $10 billion over the next ten years. The House will vote on Upton’s bill later this week.

“We should be helping small businesses grow and create jobs rather than doling out billions to the IRS to hire thousands of new bureaucrats,” said Upton. “It defies reality that in a time of skyrocketing debt, Congress turns a blind eye to working families and sets aside billions of dollars for the IRS rather than pursue policies that will grow the economy and create private sector jobs. We must get our priorities straight. Nearly a million votes have been cast in our effort to rein in out-of-control spending, and working together, we can rescue future generations from an avalanche of debt.”

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

Programs such as YouCut are necessary as the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has stated that the federal budget “appears to be on an unsustainable path.” Despite the desperate need to cut spending, the Democrats continue their spending bonanza and rapid expansion of government.

“The economic alarm bells are deafening. As of June 7th, the federal government is $13.052 trillion in the red,” said Upton. “We now owe China nearly $1 trillion and Japan $800 billion and the debt continues to pile up. For every dollar we spend this year we will have to borrow 42 cents. At $13 trillion, that figure has risen by $2.4 trillion in about 500 days since President Obama took office, an average of $4.9 billion a day under the Democrats’ one-party rule.”