I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1702 

To reallocate funds toward sensible priorities such as improved children’s 

education, increased children’s access to health care, expanded job training, and increased energy efficiency and conservation through a reduction 

of wasteful defense spending, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 26, 2007 

Ms. WOOLSEY (for herself, Ms. LEE, Mr. KUCINICH, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of 

Texas, Ms. KILPATRICK, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. 

SERRANO, Mr. STARK, Mr. BECERRA, Ms. CARSON, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, 

Mr. ELLISON, Mr. FILNER, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. HONDA, 

Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. RUSH, Ms. SOLIS, 

and Ms. WATSON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, Education and Labor, Homeland Security, Foreign 

Affairs, and Veterans’ Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined 

by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 

within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To reallocate funds toward sensible priorities such as improved children’s education, increased children’s access 

to health care, expanded job training, and increased energy efficiency and conservation through a reduction of 

wasteful defense spending, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Common Sense Budget 

3 Act of 2007’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) The Department of Defense’s increasingly 

7 large budget provides for total defense spending that 

8 is greater than that of the other 192 countries in the 

9 world combined, yet— 

10 (A) the United States now ranks 42nd in 

11 the world in infant mortality, behind most of 

12 the nations of Western Europe and the indus13 trialized Far East, while $60,000,000,000 of 

14 the United States defense budget is expended 

15 annually on weapons designed to thwart Soviet 

16 Union aggression during the Cold War and 

17 other wasteful programs; 

18 (B) Federal spending on elementary and 

19 secondary education has fallen to less than 8 

20 percent of the proposed 2008 outlays for the 

21 Department of Defense, while schools through22 out the Nation are eliminating programs in 

23 music, foreign language, and physical edu24 cation; 

25 (C) 46,000,000 individuals in the United 

26 States lack health insurance during some period 


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1 of any given year, and half that number of indi2 viduals (over 9,000,000 of whom are children) 

3 lack such insurance for the entire year; 

4 (D) the Government Accountability Office 

5 estimates that— 

(i) 1 6 ⁄3 of the Nation’s public schools, 

7 serving 14,000,000 children, need exten8 sive repair or need to have their entire 

9 physical plants replaced; 

10 (ii) 85 percent of the Nation’s public 

11 schools, 73,000 facilities serving 

12 40,000,000 children, need some repair 

13 work; and 

14 (iii) the total cost for the repairs and 

15 replacement described in this subpara16 graph is over $120,000,000,000; 

17 (E) research conducted by the National 

18 Center for Education Statistics shows that mid19 dle school students in the United States rank 

20 9th in science test scores and 15th in math test 

21 scores internationally, behind students in such 

22 countries as the Republic of Korea, the Slovak 

23 Republic, Singapore, the Russian Federation, 

24 and Malaysia; and 


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1 (F) the Government Accountability Office 

2 estimated in 2003 that the Department of De3 fense could not account for over 

4 $1,000,000,000,000 in funds appropriated to 

5 the Department of Defense. 

6 (2) The United States spends over 

7 $20,000,000,000 annually to maintain its nuclear 

8 arsenal, although many of the weapons in that arse9 nal no longer have practical utility. The United 

10 States needs to eliminate spending on obsolete weap11 ons systems and use the funds saved to meet urgent 

12 domestic needs for health care, education, job train13 ing, and increased energy efficiency and conserva14 tion. 

15 (3) The Department of Defense is spending bil16 lions of dollars developing space weapons and pre17 paring plans to deploy them, although— 

18 (A) those expenditures and plans con19 travene White House policy, in place for a dec20 ade, that emphasizes arms control and non21 proliferation pacts; and 

22 (B) the development of those weapons is 

23 opposed by many United States allies, who have 

24 rightly stated that a shift in policy towards that 

25 development will create an arms race in space. 


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1 (4) The United States needs to reduce its de2 pendence on foreign oil by promoting long-term en3 ergy security through greater investment in sustain4 able and renewable energy alternatives. 

5 (5) The United States is facing unprecedented 

6 challenges to national security and broader national 

7 interests. Sustainable development and humanitarian 

8 assistance programs should be a central part of 

9 United States foreign policy. To address the root 

10 causes of instability and terrorism and undercut the 

11 ability of terrorist organizations to recruit effec12 tively, the United States needs to address the global 

13 challenges of poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, dis14 ease, and disaster by increasing funding for sustain15 able development and humanitarian assistance pro16 grams. 

17 SEC. 3. REDUCTIONS IN AMOUNTS AVAILABLE FOR DE18 FENSE AND ENERGY PROGRAMS. 

19 (a) REDUCTIONS IN AMOUNTS AVAILABLE FOR PRO20 GRAMS.— 

21 (1) DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE PROGRAMS.— 

22 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 

23 amounts appropriated or otherwise available for fis24 cal year 2008 for the Department of Defense shall 

25 be reduced by $47,000,000,000. 


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1 (2) DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY NATIONAL SECU2 RITY PROGRAMS.—Notwithstanding any other provi3 sion of law, the amounts appropriated or otherwise 

4 available for fiscal year 2008 for the Department of 

5 Energy shall be reduced by $13,000,000,000. 

6 (b) DOMESTIC PROGRAMS.—From amounts made 

7 available under subsection (a)— 

8 (1) $10,000,000,000 shall be made available to 

9 carry out the modernization of school facilities under 

10 section 8007(b) of the Elementary and Secondary 

11 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7707(b)); 

12 (2) $9,000,000,000 shall be made available to 

13 carry out State child health plans under title XXI 

14 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1397aa et 

15 seq.); 

16 (3) $5,000,000,000 shall be made available to 

17 carry out employment and training activities under 

18 chapter 5 of subtitle B of title I of the Workforce 

19 Investment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2861 et seq.) 

20 and the Department of Labor shall determine the 

21 fair apportionment of these funds on a per capita 

22 job loss basis; 

23 (4) $10,000,000,000 shall be made available to 

24 the Secretary of Energy for such programs as that 

25 Secretary may specify to increase energy efficiency 


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1 and conservation and increase investment in sustain2 able and renewable energy alternatives; 

3 (5) $13,000,000,000 shall be made available to 

4 the Secretary of State for such sustainable develop5 ment and humanitarian assistance programs as that 

6 Secretary may specify to alleviate the global chal7 lenges of poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, disease, 

8 and disaster; 

9 (6) $5,000,000,000 shall be available to the 

10 Secretary of Homeland Security to improve safe11 guards pursuant to the Homeland Security Act of 

12 2002; 

13 (7) $5,000,000,000 shall be made available to 

14 reduce the deficit; and 

15 (8) $3,000,000,000 shall be made available for 

16 Veterans’ health care. 

17 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

18 This Act takes effect 90 days after the date of enact19 ment of this Act. 

Æ 


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