Crapo Named to Budget Conference Committee

Washington, D.C.  - Idaho Senator Mike Crapo is continuing his work on the federal budget as part of the joint Senate-House conference committee that will consider differing budget resolutions passed in the Senate and the House.  The committee is tasked with reaching a Fiscal Year 2016 proposal both chambers can then finalize.  If an agreement can be reached and approved, it would be the first time Congress has passed a budget conference report since 2010.  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell named Crapo, along with eleven other Republicans, to the conference committee today; all are members of the Senate Budget Committee.

Crapo will focus on a budget blueprint that balances the budget, without further building on the trillions of dollars of tax increases enacted in recent years by the previous Senate leadership.  Crapo will also continue to focus on strong enforcement of spending limits to ensure that caps are enforced and new spending is fully offset.  As an example of the need for spending offsets, he pointed to this week's passage of H.R. 2, which restores Medicare payments to doctors who might otherwise refuse Medicare patients, and restores critical payments for rural counties hurt by the federal government's refusal to pay property taxes on federal land within the counties.

"The final budget document sets the tone for the federal spending plans that appropriators will follow going forward," Crapo said.  "Our challenge is to put together a final budget outline that instructs other committees to avoid increasing taxes and growing our deficit.  Since this is not a measure that can be vetoed by the White House, it gives Congress a very strong statement about federal spending."

Both the Senate and House budget resolutions call for a balanced federal budget within ten years.  The first official meeting of the conference committee has been scheduled for Monday, April 20.