Meanwhile, again according to the CBO, federal spending has grown from 20.1 percent of gross domestic product in 2006 (the year before Nancy Pelosi became speaker, and slightly below the historical average), to 23.8 percent of GDP (a record but for 2009's all-time high) on Election Day 2010. Washington clearly has a spending problem -- not a tax revenue problem.

The American people are fed up and demand that we tackle government spending and the federal budget deficit immediately. The days of the administration printing more money as a solution to meet budget shortfalls are now over.

While it is true that the Energy and Commerce Committee is not ground zero for budget work, every committee must play an integral role in cutting spending and reining in the dramatic expanse of government. A first step for every committee must be to repeal the billions of dollars of unspent stimulus funds in their jurisdiction.

We must also stop letting legislation move through the committee process with the opaque, anything goes "such sums as may be necessary" appropriations language. Even when legislators have a specific spending figure in mind, they routinely use this smoke-and-mirrors tactic to get bills through the committee process and evade a difficult debate on spending.

Drafting legislation in such a consequence-free environment allows committees to pass the buck to the appropriators. But we cannot afford to pass the buck on our futures any longer.

It is time we immediately assumed responsibility for our out-of-control spending crisis before the hole gets any deeper and future generations are in greater peril. Under a new House Republican majority, we must swiftly change committee rules to ban this grossly irresponsible practice.

To immediately cut spending and the size and scope of government, we must also require that any committee legislation scored by CBO have a net cost to taxpayers directly offset by cuts to programs within that committee's jurisdiction. Moreover, we must not tolerate any "offsets" from tax increases.

In the next Congress, at least 235 members will have signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. Tax hikes are off the table -- forcing us all to focus on the actual problem: spending.

By changing committee rules for Energy and Commerce, as well as others, we must also require that legislation go one step further, and cut 10 percent more than the projected costs -- to ensure that any new program will actually be covered.

This means that a $1-million program would need a $1.1 million offset. If we cut 10 percent more than is necessary, we could have an added safeguard. And if the CBO estimate is accurate, the result will be a reduction in federal spending. It is a win-win situation that is likely to have immediate results.

Vigorous oversight is also an absolute necessity in the next Congress. Committees must hold budget hearings for every agency within their jurisdiction, and then, as candidate Obama promised, go line-by-line through each budget to identify potential items to cut. A chainsaw would be the recommended tool of choice.

Oversight will also help expose additional government waste. As Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis said, "Sunshine is the best disinfectant."

From fraud in the EnergyStar program to ridiculous delays in the implementation of the $5-billion stimulus weatherization program, programs not working as intended must be frozen until we can determine how to fix them. Or whether they should simply be discontinued and return the taxpayers their money.

The American people have spoken, and it is the responsibility of the newly elected Republican majority to chart a new course of limited government and less spending. That begins at the committee process -- and the deficit must be in the crosshairs.

Grover Norquist is the president of Americans for Tax Reform. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) is the ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment.