New Extenders Bill Still Contains Irresponsible Spending

Curtis Dubay / June 17, 2010

The long-debated extenders bill failed to pass the Senate yesterday by a wide margin (45-52). That’s good new for taxpayers because the bill contained $48 billion in new taxes, $126 billion in new spending and added $79 billion to the national debt.

Despite yesterday’s setback, Senate leaders are undeterred and released a new version of the extenders bill today. This latest version is essentially no different than the one that passed the House in late May and the bill that failed in the Senate yesterday.

Senate leaders did cut almost $21 billion from the cost of the new extenders bill so the total cost is now over $105 billion to make it more palatable for budget-conscious Senators. This is still too much spending, especially because a vast majority of the reduced spending is from a program that will require Congress to spend the money saved now in the near future. (more…)