Keith Self Calls for Flat Spending, Conservative Priorities in Budget Request

Representative Keith Self (R-TX) is pressing House appropriators to freeze discretionary spending and strip out what he describes as wasteful or ideologically driven programs in the next federal budget.

In a March letter to House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK), Rep. Self urged lawmakers to “hold discretionary spending flat” and prioritize cuts tied to the Trump administration’s budget request or identified as “waste, fraud, and abuse.”

Self’s letter then outlined all 12 spending bills, and called for restrictions on abortion-related funding, limits on programs tied to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and tighter controls on immigration, firearms, energy, and foreign policy spending.

It also pressed for defunding several agencies and initiatives, including the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency’s climate agenda, the World Health Organization, and the National Endowment for Democracy.

List of Issues

In a separate comment explaining his approach, Self said the central issue is spending tied to fraud and programs he views as outside the proper role of government. “Well, the first of all is to deal with the fraud. We have got to deal with the fraud,” he said. “I have no idea what percentage of the federal budget is taken up by fraud or the nongovernmental organizations.”

He argued that Congress should follow the administration’s budget blueprint more closely and cut programs he sees as unnecessary. “We need to rein that in,” Self said. “We need to start following the President’s budget request to cut out a lot of this spending that is extraneous to what the federal government ought to be doing.”

Self tied the letter to broader ideological goals, saying it was meant to support an effort to reduce long-standing federal spending habits. “My letter basically supports the President’s budget request,” he said. “That’s what we ought to be about to cut out, starting with fraud.”

Additional proposals are included to block funds for federal abortion policy, sanctuary-city measures, critical race theory programs, and certain gun-regulation efforts. It also seeks language limiting federal support for foreign entities and countries viewed as adversaries, while recommending major reductions to agriculture, education, commerce, and homeland security accounts.

Continuing the fight, Self emphasized that the goal is to eliminate programs that “have either run their course” or “shouldn’t have been in the federal government in the first place.”