(OVERLAND PARK) – Congressman Dennis Moore (Third District-KS) highlighted the recent release of the Financial Report of the United States and called on his colleagues in Congress to recommit themselves to an honest, open discussion of how we can return fiscal responsibility and stability to our country.

“We have in our country an $8.6 trillion national debt – a debt which has increased $2.8 trillion in the last six years,” Moore said. “This year’s Financial Report again shows that the United States is on an unsustainable path. We should all be paying attention because this report provides an important glimpse of the real, honest, audited fiscal condition of our country.”

While the federal budget largely measures cash flows in and out of the U.S. Treasury, the Financial Report, which was released on December 15, 2006, primarily uses an accrual basis of accounting to measure assets, liabilities, revenues, and expenses. The differences between the two findings can be quite different. In 2005, for example, the budget recorded a deficit—the amount by which total outlays exceeded total revenues—of $319 billion. The Financial Report’s net operating cost—the excess of the cost of operations over revenues—for 2005 was $760 billion.

“Without question, there will be difficult choices to make,” Moore said. “If we are all committed to the fiscal health of this nation, however, we can turn our country’s financial situation around, ensuring that our children and grandchildren will not have to pay for the irresponsible choices we make now. As we prepare for the 110th session of Congress, we must work together to enact a budget that reflects the priorities of the American people.”

Moore has supported balancing the budget by reinstating Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) budget rules, which are based on the concept that if Congress reduces revenues or increases spending, it must pay for those changes. PAYGO rules were in effect from 1990 until they expired in 2002 and applied to both mandatory spending increases and tax cuts. Under these rules, the federal government was successful in turning a $290 billion budget deficit in 1992 into budget surpluses in 1998, 1999 and 2000.