Fiscal Responsibility
Over the years, Democrats have shown our commitment to restoring fiscal responsibility by taking actions that have reduced our national deficit while investing in the American people’s priorities. During the 117th Congress, House Democrats delivered the landmark Inflation Reduction Act, which will reduce the deficit by over $300 billion while lowering health care and energy costs and taking action on climate change. In sharp contrast, Republicans jammed their 2017 Trump Tax Scam through Congress without a single hearing, gifting trillions of dollars in unpaid-for tax handouts to the wealthiest Americans and large corporations while leaving our nation with ballooning deficits. They have repeatedly held our economy hostage to benefit their irresponsible ideological agenda, whether creating artificial “fiscal cliffs,” shutting down the government, or bringing our nation to the brink of defaulting on its obligations. With other landmark legislation delivered during the 117th Congress, including the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the CHIPS and Science Act, Democrats have worked to invest in economic recovery, job creation, all while cutting the deficit in half last year. Democrats are committed to continuing our work to restore sound, long-term fiscal management so future generations can afford to invest in opportunities, secure the American Dream, and ensure workers have the tools to Make It In America.
Our number one priority must continue to be creating jobs and setting our economy back on a course toward sustainable growth that creates opportunities for our middle class. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told the House Budget Committee earlier this month that growth must take precedence over deficit reduction. I agree. However, putting our fiscal house in order by reining in deficits and getting our debt under control is a critical part of ensuring sustainable economic growth, and so it is essential for us to have a plan to reduce deficits once the economy has further recovered.
I know that everybody on my side would have supported the agreement that Mr. Van Hollen and I put forward. That agreement would, as the current agreement would say, that the only individuals paying for this bill out of 315 million Americans are the two million civilian workers who work for us, who work for all of us, who day after day, week after week, month after month make sure we give the services to the people of the United States, protect the United states, ensure that our food is safe, ensure that we have FBI agents on the job, make sure at the Defense Intelligence Agency we know what other people are doing, these are all civilian employees. Highly skilled, highly trained, highly educated and, yes, highly motivated. And every day they give outstanding service to the people of the United States. We talk here and we pass laws here but none of that talk and none of those laws make a difference unless somebody implements what we say and the policies that we set. This Congress is on the path to be the most anti-federal worker Congress that I have served in.
I am very disappointed that the proposed UI extension will be paid for by increasing the retirement contributions made by new federal workers. When we work to protect the middle class, it is only right to protect them all, and federal workers are hardworking Americans who have already contributed $60 billion to deficit reduction over the next decade. Our deficit problems were not created by these men and women, and they will not be solved by only asking them to contribute. If we are going to address our deficit in a big, bold and balanced way, we must look beyond just federal workers and ask others to share in the contributions our deficit problems demand.
Yesterday, President Obama unveiled his budget for fiscal year 2013, which builds on the Blueprint for an America Built to Last that he laid out in his State of the Union address. This Blueprint aims to strengthen the economy and create middle class jobs by bolstering the manufacturing sector, a bright spot in our economic recovery. This focus on manufacturing complements House Democrats’ Make It In America plan – a plan to create jobs by cultivating an encouraging environment for businesses to innovate and make products here in the U.S.
Today, President Obama laid out his budget proposal for the next fiscal year, and I am pleased that it places a strong emphasis on investments in education, innovation, and infrastructure. His budget builds on the blueprint he laid out during his State of the Union address last month – a blueprint that reflects the core commitment to job creation and the middle class in House Democrats’ Make It In America jobs plan. Manufacturing will be key to our long-term recovery, and I am glad that the President’s budget includes provisions that will help us remain the world’s manufacturing leader and a place where innovation fuels the creation of middle class jobs for years to come.
House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) discussed Republicans’ lack of a jobs plan and the need to extend payroll tax cuts, unemployment insurance and the Medicare physician payment rate before they expire on The Bill Press Show today.
Instead of spending time working with Democrats to pass a comprehensive jobs plan, extend middle class tax cuts, or find a solution to our deficit problem, Republicans have wasted time on these two process bills. Not only do they fail to bring us closer to finding a solution, but they only serve to tamper with the non-partisan judges we rely on at the Congressional Budget Office to provide unbiased budget analysis.
Over the past year, House Republicans have claimed over and over again that their focus is on jobs and the economy. Unfortunately, their record doesn’t match up with their rhetoric.
We ought to have a bill, we ought to pass Mr. Van Hollen's bill, we ought to take this out of the politics and then I tell my friends what we ought to do is pass the big deal. We ought to pass a $4 trillion to $6 trillion big deal to get the fiscal house in order of the United States of America. And it ought to include all things on the table, including federal employee pay and benefits, including the military pay and benefits and expenditures, and domestic expenditures as well as entitlements. I've said that. We ought not to do it piecemeal as this bill reflects.
Instead of focusing on job creation or taking meaningful action on the deficit, House Republicans are considering partisan bills that change the longstanding rules about how the CBO does its work this week. These bills will not make the budget process more efficient and won’t do anything to bring down the deficit.