Majority Leader John Boehner and I recently sent a proposal to President Obama that would save taxpayers $375 billion over the next five years.

Here are some examples of the proposed cuts, terminations and spending suspensions:

• Suspend spending on Federal Land Purchases, decreasing spending by $990 million over five years.
• Terminate Federal Transportation funding for “Non-Motorized Transportation Projects”, decreasing spending by $125 million over five years.
• Consolidate and reduce funding for Federal Advisory Committees, decreasing spending by $170 million over five years.
• Eliminate Federal Transportation funding for landscaping, museums, and other transportation “enhancements,” decreasing spending by $4.1 billion over five years.
• Terminate duplicative Education Programs, decreasing spending by $2.2 billion over five years.

With most Americans making budget cuts of our own it is time we pushed the government to follow suit.

Click here to view the proposed budget cuts we sent the President or please leave a comment with your thoughts.

This article appeared in The New York Daily News

When he took the reins of government, President Obama faced a choice. Would he change the ways of Washington and make the tough decisions that all Americans understand are necessary to return America to long-term growth and fiscal sustainability? Or would he lead under the guise that massive spending binges equal meaningful reform?

So far, the administration has chosen the latter, kicking the hard choices down the road. President Obama has proposed policies that will accumulate more debt than was amassed by all previous Presidents over the past 220 years. This year alone we are forced to borrow $2 trillion from the private markets, much of it coming from foreign creditors. And because foreign creditors were likely to balk at the large supply of our debt coming to market, the Federal Reserve was compelled to step in as the buyer of last resort through quantitative easing - in other words, printing money.

With the national debt projected to more than double in the next 10 years, the President isn’t merely mortgaging the future of the young voters who supported him. He is putting all of us at risk of drowning in inflation.

The binge began with February’s “stimulus.” To put it generously, the $787 billion bill has not been the “temporary, targeted and timely” job-creating machine the public was sold. More than 2 million Americans have lost their jobs since its passage.

The administration then turned its attention to the budget. As small businesses and families across the country tightened their belts in this difficult economy, President Obama rammed an additional $3.6 trillion spending plan through Congress.

This is to say nothing of the fact that Washington now has bought into the auto business and will soon seek more control over our health care, increasing the reach of government at the expense of doctors and patients and costing well over a $1 trillion over 10 years.

Enough is enough. America cannot afford to keep running up charges on the already maxed government credit card. The creditors who finance our exorbitant spending - be they the Chinese, the Russians or private American investors - are starting to reconsider purchasing Treasury bills due to inflation fears. In the past few weeks, a global flight from Treasuries has caused yields to shoot skyward to attract buyers. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was laughed at in China after asserting that America would get its debt under control.

Since interest rates on Treasuries influence the rate at which businesses and consumers borrow, our economic recovery may be the primary victim of the binge. Last Wednesday, a spike in interest rates sent the rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages soaring upward. Higher borrowing costs for consumers and business put a tremendous strain on two of the main sources of the economic crisis: the weak housing market and the general unavailability of credit.

It didn’t have to be this way. House Republicans developed a stimulus package focused on working families and small businesses that would have created twice the number of jobs of the one we got. We offered a budget that controlled our debt, protected our financial health and retirement security. We offered proposals to stabilize home values and make it easier to restore the savings of millions of Americans. They continue to be ignored by Democratic leaders in Congress and by President Obama.

The President claims that the stimulus has “created or saved” 150,000 jobs, but it’s impossible to quantify a “saved” job. The fact that despite trillions in federal spending, an average of 10 out of every 100 Americans are now unemployed proves that still more spending is not the answer.

With each dollar spent, Americans sense the need for a greater check on the unlimited power that the Democrats now hold, setting the stage for the 2010 congressional elections. The administration pitches its unprecedented spending as an effort to douse the fire in our economy. All they have done is ensure it will last longer.

Recently, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that most citizens agree that “…the government can’t buy its way out of the recession, and it shouldn’t even be trying.” On June 2nd, government’s role in the lives of the public will be discussed during the Public Square.

According to the RTD poll, many of the respondents agreed that the government would not be able to fix the economy using stimulus packages—and that they had no business running the various companies receiving such packages.

“While it may have been beneficial to prop up the financial industry, I am a believer in the capitalist system to weather the storm on its own and right itself,” said survey participant Jeb Hockman, a 57-year-old public-relations specialist from Henrico County.

“The current conditions are painful, but those companies that emerge from the recession will be stronger in the long term. . . . I am still concerned that we could have another downturn, but I think the economy will right itself if left alone.”

Of the 488 respondents in the newspaper’s poll, most of them agreed with the above statements. They believe that it is not the government’s job to prop up failing companies and that those that are weak, should, as blunt as it is, die. Over four out of five people also stated that they wanted to see the government stay out of the auto industry’s business.

Barack Obama has announced that he intends to close the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo (Gitmo) on the island of Cuba and move the terrorists and enemy combatants to sites in the United States. Unfortunately, for Virginia, two of the sites Obama is considering to house these terrorists are in Virginia. This should be of great concern to all Virginians including Virginia’s Governor and Attorney General.

Virginia would be importing some of the most dangerous people on earth, terrorists determined to kill Americans and destroy our way of life. Most are far more threatening than the 61 detainees released from Guantanamo over the past few years that the Pentagon says have already returned to terrorism.

Except for 60 prisoners who have been cleared for release, provided we can find countries to accept them, the remaining detainees are high-level Al-Qaeda operatives with a hand in 9-11 or other terrorist attacks; key Taliban operatives; and other Al-Qaeda facilitators and money people. Not exactly your run-of-the-mill prisoners.

Moving these terrorists to Virginia is especially troubling when you consider that neither Norfolk or Quantico were designed to house Al-Qaeda terrorists. Both sites are only minutes from major interstates, elementary schools, and hospitals. Even more frighting the naval brig at Norfolk is only 49 miles from the Surry Nuclear Power Plant and Quantico is only 60 miles from the nuclear plant at Lake Anna.

Do we really intend to house terrorists in these urban centers?

Terrorists, who do not wear uniforms, do not fight for a state and show only reckless disregard for the Geneva Conventions should not be held on the mainland.

But if President Obama is really adamant on bringing the terrorists to American soil, shouldn’t he build a facility in a remote desert away from schools and hospitals or put these terrorists in maximum security facilities equipped to handle dangerous criminals?

Congress, through the power of the purse, has the constitutional authority to prevent any potential transfer of detainees from Guantanamo to facilities in Virginia. That’s why I support a bill recently introduced by Rep. Randy Forbes to prevent any funds from being dedicated to such purposes. I also call on the Governor to use his influence with our new President to stop the transfer of terrorists to Virginia.