SAFE Act Would Cap Growth of Government

Brian Riedl / May 18, 2010

Over the past decade, federal spending has leaped 62 percent faster than inflation, to more than $30,000 per household. Not content with this expansion of government, President Obama’s budget would push inflation-adjusted spending to nearly $37,000 per household by the end of this decade. This would create sustained trillion-dollar budget deficits, likely followed by European-sized tax hikes.

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) has proposed a commonsense approach to avoid such ruinous spending hikes. The Saving America’s Future Economy (SAFE) Act of 2010 would limit the annual growth of government to the inflation rate plus population growth rate (typically around 3.5 percent annually). (Note that this SAFE Act is different from the deficit commission bill with the same name). (more…)