Contact: Aaron White
Phone: 202-225-5506
Aaron.White@mail.house.gov
Kind has returned nearly $2 million to pay down the debt
La Crosse – Today, U.S. Rep. Ron Kind announced that he is returning $107,608.50 to the U.S. Treasury to pay down the national debt. Rep. Kind has found savings in his congressional budget every year since taking office and has returned nearly $2 million to taxpayers, to date.
“Now more than ever, we need to re-instill a sense of fiscal responsibility in Congress. I want to lead by example, which is why every year – with the help of my staff – I find savings in my office budget and return our unused funds to the U.S. Treasury to pay down our National debt. This year, I am proud to return $107,608.50 – bringing the grand total to just shy of $2 million to date,” said Rep. Ron Kind.
Rep. Kind’s interest in finding savings in government programs began as an intern for Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin. While interning, Rep. Kind was tasked with investigating wasteful government spending programs for Sen. Proxmire’s Golden Fleece Awards.
Rep. Kind has continued on this tradition as Wisconsin’s Third Congressional District Representative, and has fought to lower the national debt and cut wasteful spending across a wide range of government programs and agencies, such as wasteful spending on outdated Defense equipment and reducing bloated farm subsidy payments to millionaires and billionaires in the Farm Bill program.
Last week, Rep. Ron Kind introduced a bipartisan bill that will require that all unused Congressional office funds be returned at the end of fiscal year to the U.S. Treasury, and be used for deficit or debt reduction. The Giveback Deficit Reduction Act was introduced with Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ).
