House Passes Budget that Restores Fiscal Responsibility

Last week the House passed a budget resolution that will put our nation back on the track of fiscal responsibility and stop running our economy on borrowed money from China and the Social Security Trust Fund.  Our budget implements the pay-as-you-go system, which means that every spending increase or tax cut must be offset by reducing spending in other programs or by finding new revenue sources.  This is a major step forward in nursing our nation back to fiscal sanity and securing a stable, prosperous future for our children.

The minority side attacked our budget resolution for raising taxes, something that is simply unfounded.  I’ve included my remarks below from the debate on the House floor responding to the minority’s arguments and presenting the true facts about our budget resolution.

Mr. ANDREWS. Mr. Chairman, just to save my good friend from Wisconsin the time, I represent a State where 7.5 million people will not see the repeal to their marriage penalty relief, a State where 7.5 million people will not see capital gains rates go back up under this budget, where 7.5 million people will not lose their child care tax credit, et cetera. Here is what these budgets say about taxes.

In 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, the present law remains in effect. There is no tax cut that was enacted that is modified, limited or repealed.

On December 31 of 2010, whomever is in control of this Congress will have a choice to make, and that choice will be which, if any or all, of the tax cuts should be extended beyond their expiration date.

Here is the difference between our budget and the President's Republican approach. We say that we should think first, analyze first, and then make the right choice. We say that when we get to December 31 of 2010, let's look at what surplus may exist. If Mr. Spratt's budget is adopted, the budget will be in surplus of $154 billion by fiscal year 2012.

We say, let's look at the revenues that come in. Our budget, of course, is based upon the CBO's more pragmatic and conservative revenue estimates. The President's budget, Mr. Chairman, is based upon more optimistic revenue assumptions. We hope that he is right. We hope that the optimistic revenue assumptions are correct, and there will be an even greater surplus at that point in time.

Our budget contains significant investments in closing the tax gap, in going after the tens of billions, if not hundreds of billions, of dollars that are owed under present law but not collected. And we say, let's see how we do in collecting some of those funds. Let's look at the Nation's priorities, and then let's make an intelligent choice about what to do.

We believe that this budget should not borrow money from the Social Security trust fund and from foreign governments like the People's Republic of China to meet our obligations. We believe we should pay as we go, whether it is adding a dollar for the Children's Health Insurance Program, or reducing a dollar in taxes paid by the people of the country.

We believe that the right choice and the first choice and the dominant choice is to stop running this country on borrowed money from the Social Security trust fund, from the Chinese and from others.

So when my friend from Wisconsin read from our resolution, I thank and commend him, because that is exactly what we stand for. When we get to December 31 of 2010 and the question about which tax cuts to renew should be taken up by this Congress, if we are the majority at that time, we will make a wise choice based upon what the surplus is, what the economy looks like and what our options are. But we will not borrow the money from the Social Security trust fund and from other creditors around the world.

We have tried that under them for the last 6 years. It is a recipe for disaster. It is a recipe for a cataclysm in the next decade when Social Security and Medicare come due in a very, very large way. So our principle is not to increase this deficit and to build a surplus, and we stand by it. 

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