How Billy Long Failed to "Get 'er Done": Promised $100 Billion in Spending Cuts Falls Way Short

Billy Long promised conservatives at CPAC on the $100 billion in spending cuts promised by Republicans, "we got 'er done." The facts are Billy Long helped prevent getting the $100 billion in tax cuts done. The man who claimed he was fed up with wasteful government spending often voted to keep keep wasteful government spending. Here's how Long voted the spending cut amendments for HR1, which was the spending cuts bill John Boehner promised Americans in the Pledge to America.

You will see some of these votes were worthy of a nay, while others, like his vote to continue federal funding of NASCAR race teams leave you scratching your head thinking, "I thought he was fed up with wasteful federal spending."

In the end Billy Long and the Republicans failed to get the promised $100 billion in spending cuts. They got $61 billion. The following are the budget cuts 'fed up' Bill Long voted against:


Amendment No. 1—Rep. Cravaack (R-MN): The amendment would reduce funds to the United States Institutes of Peace by $42.6 million and increase funds to State, Foreign Operations and related programs by $42.6 million.

Amendment No. 2—Rep. Rooney (R-FL): The amendment would reduce funding for the Navy and Air Force (Research, Development, Test and Evaluation) by $225 million each. The funds would be transferred into the Defense spending reduction account. Funds transferred into the spending reduction account are designated as savings and lower the 302(b) allocation for a given subcommittee. Funds transferred into the spending reduction account cannot be allocated elsewhere in the bill.

Amendment No. 3—Rep. Tonko (D-NY): The amendment would strike the provision restricting certain funds from being used by the EPA to implement, administer, or enforce a change to a rule or guidance document pertaining to the definition of waters under the jurisdiction of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.

Amendment No. 4—Rep. Tonko (D-NY): The amendment would strike a provision restricting the use of certain funds for the Weatherization Assistance Program.

Amendment No. 7—Rep. Campbell (R-CA): The amendment would reduce the total amount otherwise made available by this Act for the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs by $14 billion.

Amendment No. 8—Rep. Stearns (R-FL): The amendment would restrict funds made available in this

Amendment No. 10—Rep. Stearns (R-FL): The amendment would prohibit funds made available by this Act from being used to regulate or classify coal combustion residuals as a hazardous waste or material.

Amendment No. 12—Rep. McCarthy (D-NY): The amendment would increase and decrease by an equivalent amount the funding level for the Department of Justice, Office of Justice, Programs, State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance. Often Members will use an amendment of this nature in order to clarify within the Congressional Record that funding shall be directed to a specific purpose.

Amendment No. 17—Rep. Tonko (D-NY): The amendment would strike subsections (a) and (b) of section 1824, which states: (a) The level for “Department of Education, Education for the Disadvantaged” shall be $3.9 billion, of which $3.9 billion shall become available on July 1, 2011, and remain available through September 30, 2012 and an additional $10.8 billion to remain available through September 30, 2012, shall be available on October 1, 2011 for academic year 2011–2012. Of the amounts available for such heading, $6.4 billion shall be for basic grants under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; $1.3 billion shall be for concentration grants; (3) $3 billion shall be for targeted grants; (4) $3 billion shall be for education finance incentive grants. The tenth, eleventh and twelfth provisos under the heading “Department of Education, Education for the Disadvantaged” in division D of Public Law 111–117 shall not apply to funds appropriated by this division.

Amendment No. 21—Rep. Hastings (D-FL): The amendment would increase and decrease by an equivalent amount, the funding level for the Agricultural Programs, Agricultural Research Service, Salaries and Expenses. The amendment would also increase and decrease by an equivalent amount the funding level for Agricultural Programs, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Salaries and Expenses. Often Members will use an amendment of this nature in order to clarify within the Congressional Record that funding shall be directed to a specific purpose.

Amendment No. 22—Rep. Hastings (D-FL): The amendment would prohibit any funds made available in this Act from being used by the Secretary of the Army to acquire land or construct any building or structure within the town of Lake Park, Florida.

Amendment No. 25—Rep. Graves (R-GA): The amendment would prohibit any of the funds made available by this Act from being used to implement or enforce the Report and Order of the Federal Communications Commission relating to the matter of preserving the open Internet and broadband industry practices (FCC 10-201).

Amendment No. 27—Rep. Markey (D-MA): The amendment would prohibit any of the funds made available by this Act from being used to issue any new lease that authorizes the production of oil or natural gas under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to any lessee under any existing lease issued by the Department of the Interior pursuant to the Outer Continental Shelf Deep Water Royalty Relief Act where such existing lease is not subject to limitations on royalty relief based on market prices.

Amendment No. 28—Rep. Chaffetz (R-UT): The amendment would reduce by $4 million the amount made available to Independent Agencies, National Archives and Records Administration, National Historical Publications and Records Commission, Grants Program. The amendment would also increase by $4 million the amount made available to Financial Service, General Government Spending Reduction Account. Funds transferred into the spending reduction account are designated as savings and lower the 302(b) allocation for a given subcommittee. Funds transferred into the spending reduction account cannot be allocated elsewhere in the bill.

Amendment No. 33—Rep. Garret (R-NJ): The amendment would prohibit any funds in this bill from paying the salaries and expenses of personnel to carry out a market access program under section 203 of the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978.

Amendment No. 45—Rep. Baldwin (D-WI): The amendment would reduce all funding under the bill by a pro rata amount so that the total reduction is $1 billion. The amendment then redirects $1 billion to the “Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Health Resources and Services,” which the bill has funded at $5.3 billion.

Amendment No. 50—Rep. McCollum (D-MN): The amendment would restrict funds made available by this Act from being used by the Department of Defense for sponsorship of NASCAR race cars.

Amendment No. 67—Rep. Polis (D-CO): The amendment would prevent the rescission of funds used for paying the subsidy and administrative cost of projects eligible for Federal credit assistance under chapter 6 of title 23, United States Code, provided by division A of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Amendment No. 69—Rep. Polis (D-CO): The amendment would not permit the rescission of stimulus funds appropriated or otherwise made available for the creation of jobs.

Amendment No. 73—Rep. Royce (R-CA): The amendment would reduce by $10.7 million the amount made available to Related Programs, East-West Center. The amendment would also increase by $10.7 million the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Spending Reduction Account. Funds transferred into the spending reduction account are designated as savings and lower the 302(b) allocation for a given subcommittee. Funds transferred into the spending reduction account cannot be allocated elsewhere in the bill.

Amendment No. 80—Rep. Gardner (R-CO): The amendment would prevent the use of funds made available by this Act from being used to first-class or business-class airfare for federal employees for domestic travel.

Amendment No. 81—Rep. Gardner (R-CO): The amendment would reduce by 50 percent the amount of funds made available by this Act to pay for expenses for official travel.

Amendment No. 82—Rep. Gardner (R-CO): The amendment would rescind the unobligated balance of funds made available by section 1005 (b) of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.

Amendment No. 83—Rep. Emerson (R-MO): The amendment would prohibit funds made available by this Act from being used by the IRS to implement or enforce section 5000A of the Internal Revenue Code, section 6055 of such Code, and section 1502 (c) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Amendment No. 87—Rep. Pompeo (R-KS): The amendment would reduce the funding levels for Army procurements by for procurement of equipment by $15 million; for Navy procurement of equipment by $15 million; for Air Force procurement of equipment by $15 million; for Defense-wide procurements by $15,000,000, and Defense-wide procurement of equipment by $15 million. The amendment reduces the funding levels for the Army’s research, development, test and evaluations for the Army, Navy, and Air Force by $105 million each and Defense-wide operation of facilities and equipment by $127 million. The amendment would eliminate the funds $3.2 million in funds made available for program management and oversight of innovative research and development. The amendment would transfer the $502.4 million in savings into the Defense subcommittee’s spending reduction account. Funds transferred into the spending reduction account are designated as savings and lower the 302(b) allocation for a given subcommittee. Funds transferred into the spending reduction account cannot be allocated elsewhere in the bill.

Amendment No. 98— Rep. DeFazio (D-OR): The amendment would reduce by $24 million the amount made available to the Independent Agencies, Selective Service System, Salaries and Expenses. The amendment would also increase by $24 million the amount made available to the Financial Services, General Government Spending Reduction Account. Funds transferred into the spending reduction account are designated as savings and lower the 302(b) allocation for a given subcommittee. Funds transferred into the spending reduction account cannot be allocated elsewhere in the bill.

Amendment No. 99—Rep. McDermott (D-WA): The amendment would prohibit any funds made available in this Act from being used to plan for, begin, continue, finish, process, or approve the relocation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Marine Operations Center-Pacific from Seattle, Washington, to Newport, Oregon.

Amendment No. 104—Rep. Jordan (R-OH): The amendment would perform a 5.5 percent across-the-board cut of all accounts in eight non-security divisions of the CR; and an 11 percent across-the-board cut of all accounts in the Legislative Branch bill. The amendment would not cut any funding for Israel.

Amendment No. 105—Rep. Price (D-NC): The amendment would reduce funding for the “Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Chief Information Officer” for data center development and mitigation from $333.3 million to $314.9 million (a reduction of $18.4 million).

The amendment would also reduce funding for the “‘Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Aviation Security’’ from $5.1 billion to $5.07 billion (a reduction of $33.9 million).

The amendment would reduce funding for the “Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, Federal Air Marshalls” from $934.8 million to $928.5 million (a reduction of $6.2 million).

The amendment increases funding for the “Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Firefighter Assistance Grants” from $300 million to $390 million (an increase of $90 million), and would allow that the additional $90 million to be used to carry out section 34 of the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 (expansion of pre-September 11, 2001, fire grant programs). The bill currently has eliminated funding for the pre-September 11, 2001 fire grant programs.

The amendment would reduce funding for the ‘‘Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Predisaster Mitigation Fund” from $65 million to $63.5 million (a reduction of $1.4 million).

The amendment would reduce funding for the “Department of Homeland Security, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services” from $275 million to 265 million (a reduction of $10 million).

The amendment would reduce funding for the “Department of Homeland Security, Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, Research, Development, and Operations’’ from $293 million to $273 million (a difference of $20 million).

Amendment No. 108—Rep. Whitfield (R-KY): The amendment would reduce funds for the U.S. House of Representatives salaries and expenses by $1.5 million and transfer the funds into the Legislative Branch spending reduction account. Funds transferred into the spending reduction account are designated as savings and lower the 302(b) allocation for a given subcommittee. Funds transferred into the spending reduction account cannot be allocated elsewhere in the bill.

Amendment No. 109—Rep. Griffith (R-VA): The amendment would prohibit funds in the bill from being used to carry out, implement, administer, or enforce any policy or procedure set forth in an EPA and Defense Department memorandum entitled “Enhanced Surface Coal Mining Pending Permit Coordination Procedures” dated June 11, 2009. The amendment would also prohibit funding to set forth the guidance issued by the EPA entitled “Improving EPA Review of Appalachian Surface Coal Mining Operations under the Clean Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act, and the Environmental Justice Executive Order.”

Amendment No. 112—Rep. Barletta (R-PA): The amendment would reduce funding by $42,676,000 for the United States Institute for Peace, and would increase funding by $42,676,000 for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Community Planning and Development, Community Development Fund.

Amendment No. 114—Rep. Barletta (R-PA): The amendment would reduce funding by $42,676,000 for the United States Institute for Peace, and would increase funding by $18,000,000 for the Department of Energy, Energy Programs, Clean Coal Technology.

Amendment No. 120—Rep. Gohmert (R-TX): The amendment would prohibit any assistance made available by this Act from being provided to a country that opposed the position of the United States in the United Nations, subject to exemptions by the Secretary of State or the President, with “opposed the position of the United States” defined as a member country voting with the U.S. less than 50 percent of the time in the most recent session of the General Assembly.

Amendment No. 140—Rep. Braley (D-IA): The amendment would prohibit any funds made available by this Act to any office of the legislative branch from being used for the procurement of an item that is not grown, reprocessed, reused, or produced in the United States, under the same terms and conditions applicable under section 2533a of title 10, United States Code, to funds made available by this Act to the Department of Defense.

Amendment No. 155—Rep. Burgess (R-TX): The amendment would strike a section (paragraph 11 of section 101) of the Education Jobs Fund Act (P.L. 111-226).

Amendment No. 156—Rep. Burgess (R-TX): The amendment would strike a section (paragraph 11 of section 101) of the Education Jobs Fund Act (P.L. 111-226).