Newly elected Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus has his work cut out for him.



Priebus, who campaigned on the promise that he would get the RNC's financial house in order, inherited $23 million in debt from former chairman Michael Steele, the Associated Press reports. By comparison, the Democratic National Committee had $1 million in debt and more than $6 million on hand at year's end.



To cut back on spending, Priebus has cut more than 40 positions from the RNC staff and frozen major contracts. More pressing, however, is a $5 million loan payment due this month. The RNC voted last year to push payment back until 2012 but Priebus argued for paying off the loan now.



