Hoyer Remarks at House Budget Committee Members' Day Hearing

WASHINGTON, DC – Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) testified before the House Budget Committee at their Members’ Day hearing this afternoon, where he discussed the need to replace the harmful sequester. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:

“Thank you, Chairman Price and Ranking Member Van Hollen. 

“I appreciate this opportunity to talk about how the budget resolution for Fiscal Year 2016 ought to guide our country in the direction of growth that is felt broadly, expanded opportunity, and a more competitive economy not just for today but for generations to come.

“As this Committee knows better than any, sequestration was created in the Budget Control Act in 2011 as an incentive for the so-called “super committee” to find compromise on revenue and entitlement policy and implement a balanced, realistic fiscal path for the country.  When the super committee dissolved having found no compromise, the sequester’s massive cuts to defense and nondefense spending alike – cuts which were never intended to go into effect – have instead become the new baseline for how much we can invest.

This Committee’s previous Chairman, Mr. Ryan, along with then-Senate Budget Chair, Senator Murray, came to an agreement in December 2013 to stave off the worst of its cuts for two budget years.  At the same time, Chairman Ryan reported budget resolutions out of this Committee that continued sequester-level spending in the future, a practice that even Republican Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers has called ‘unrealistic and ill-conceived.’  Chairman Rogers ought to know, because he is tasked with guiding the implementation of sequester-level spending through the appropriations process.

“While Congress has funded government operations since the Ryan-Murray agreement, we have only done so by taking the seemingly easy but very dangerous route of prioritizing our immediate needs while neglecting long-term investment in physical and human capital, such as our infrastructure, technological upgrades, and – yes – training and maintaining the best possible federal workforce to meet the needs of the American people. 

“I voted against the Ryan-Murray deal in December 2013 and stood on the Floor of this House to call it a ‘missed opportunity,’ because I recognized that it put us on a glide-path back to where we sit today, facing sequestration-level caps once again. 

“CBO reported last month that the portion of our budget dedicated to domestic discretionary priorities fell from 19% four years ago to 14% today.  If Congress does not replace sequestration, its portion will be 11% in 2025, the last year of the budget resolution you are set to consider.  Similarly, under the Republican Majority that insisted on the sequester caps, defense priorities have fallen from 20% of our budget four years ago to 15% today and will be 11.6% in 2025, if we fail to act.

“Those numbers have real world implications.  Basic research at institutions like NIH, the National Science Foundation, and other idea-generators has taken a significant hit as a result of the sequester caps.  With hundreds of grants cut and uncertainty over future funding, leading researchers are discouraged from conducting their research here in the United States.  Unless Congress can show the scientific community that we are serious about research by replacing sequestration, we risk calcifying this trend and abandoning America’s role as the world’s engine of invention and innovation.

“Scientific research isn’t the only area where we’ve disinvested in our future.  As a result of the sequester, more than 57,000 children have been unable to access Head Start and Early Head Start programs that promote healthy early development and help close the achievement gap.  Unless Congress can show these children that their education is a priority by replacing sequestration, we risk leaving a generation of these students behind, mortgaging their future and our own.

“The sequester levels, to which I expect the Chairman’s budget resolution will adhere, hold us back from making the investments we need to lay a solid foundation for the next generation to compete and grow the middle class.  In addition, they restrict our military’s ability to adjust to changing and emerging threats.  Sequester–style indiscriminate cuts and perpetual budget uncertainty weaken our military, harm readiness, and prevent leaders from appropriately matching DOD costs and missions.  That’s no way to right-size the Pentagon’s budget.    

“I urge the Committee to report a budget resolution that is achievable – not notional – and that provides for replacing the remaining sequester with balanced, bipartisan deficit reduction, setting the stage for Congress to make the tough decisions necessary to achieve long-term savings while making sure we are investing in the nation’s future prosperity.

“Let’s use this moment, with the return of the sequester nearly upon us, as a catalyst for responsible action.  I hope the Committee will recognize the high cost to the next generation of Americans if its budget resolution continues to focus only on the short term.  America has always been a forward-looking nation, and our budget resolution for fiscal year 2016 ought to reflect that.”