Rice asks House leadership to cut allowance for all members of Congress to pay down debt

The federal budget deficit – now totaling almost $800 billion – has U.S. Rep. Tom Rice (R-SC) worried and he’s asked leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives to step in and rectify the situation.

Specifically, Rep. Rice wants to see each congressional lawmaker return 5 percent of his or her Members’ Representational Allowance (MRA) to the U.S. Treasury Department to help pay down the national debt, a suggestion also endorsed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

“President Trump’s request that each cabinet member cut their budget by 5 percent was a step in the right direction and Congress should follow his lead,” Rep. Rice said on Oct. 23.

According to the U.S. House Ethics Committee, each member receives a single MRA available to support the conduct of official and representational duties to the district from which elected during each session of Congress. Regulations state that the MRA may be used only for official and representational expenses and not to pay for any expenses related to activities or events that are primarily social in nature, personal expenses, campaign or political expenses, or House committee expenses. Members may be personally liable for misspent funds or expenditures exceeding the MRA, according to the Ethics Committee.

Rep. Rice thinks that if all members of Congress applied strict budgeting principles to their MRAs, then millions of taxpayer dollars could be saved each year, according to an Oct. 23 letter he sent to House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and House Administration Committee Chairman Gregg Harper (R-MS).

“The American people rely on the Members of Congress to be good stewards of our nation’s finances,” Rice wrote. “Our federal government however is spending an out-of-control rate and accumulating trillions of dollars in debt. Reckless spending threatens our national security, economic competitiveness, and the future of our entitlement programs.”

The congressman said returning 5 percent of each MRA every year is a doable option, and he’s been doing it annually since 2013, returning some $600,000 a year to the Treasury, while still being able to operate three full-time offices, he said.

“Just as American families and businesses must operate under a budget, so should elected officials and the federal government,” Rep. Rice said earlier this week. “Fiscal irresponsibility has become the status quo in Washington, and it is past time for us to take action to rein in our reckless spending habits.”