Lewis targets Democratic pet programs, Rogers touts generosity in gavel race

House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) told the House Republican Steering Committee today that he would target a long list of Democratic pet projects if he is given the gavel of the committee next year.

Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky) also touted his budget cutting plans while at the same time highlighting efforts he has made to get other Republicans elected.

Lewis and Rogers and Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) are running for the position and each made presentations Tuesday afternoon.

The Lewis list, obtained by The Hill, included cutting $20 billion from the Food Stamps program and eliminating the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. He would also eliminate Americorps, and slashing funding for the Clinton police hiring initiative.

Lewis would also slash funding for a range of climate change related spending items: he would cut funding for Department of Energy climate change research, eliminated funding for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change talks, currently meeting in Cancun, Mexico, and slashing contributions to the World Bank Clean Technology Fund.

Overall Lewis said he plans to cut more than $100 billion in spending compared to President Obama’s last budget, repeal unobligated stimulus funding and pass the largest spending rescission bill in history.

Rogers in his presentation made many of the same points as Lewis did. He promised to enforce and uphold an earmarks moratorium, emphasized defunding the Obama healthcare reform act.

He also decided to emphasize his generosity in helping other members get elected. The Rogers presentation notes that he has “directly assisted 59 of this historic class of new members” and has raised nearly $6 million for the GOP in six years.

Kingston’s presentation, leaked Monday, emphasized a resurrecting the 1980s Gramm-Rudman-Hollings deficit cutting mechanism.