Aims at reducing wasteful spending, deficit

From Seattletimes.nwsource.com

New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman have introduced legislation aimed at reducing federal spending.

Gregg, a Republican, and Lieberman, an independent, says the proposal would allow Congress to take a second look at some of the current spending and judge it based on its merits. Then, any amounts that Congress has second thoughts on can be used to pay down the deficit, instead of passing on the debt burden to future generations.

The senators say too often earmarks and new mandatory spending proposals are jammed into omnibus spending and tax bills that are frequently passed with no time to review. The proposal gives Congress another chance to vote on those earmarks, based on merit, not because they were carried by a "must-pass bill."