Budget
As a member who served on the House Budget Committee, I am keenly aware that we cannot keep borrowing our way to a better future. We must take decisive action to reduce our federal deficit. However, we must also continue to make targeted investments to spur economic growth and combat high unemployment. Rhode Islanders are still looking for jobs, but they are also looking for a government they can trust to live within its fiscal means.
As a means to bring our deficit under control, I supported the Budget Control Act which passed last year. This law will require $900 billion in spending cuts over the next ten years, and it established a bipartisan Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, or “super-committee,” to identify and recommend to Congress an additional $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction. While I was disappointed that the deficit reduction committee could not come to a consensus on a balanced approach to cut our deficit, I continue to work with my colleagues to achieve this goal. This is why I voted for the Democratic alternative to the Fiscal Year 2013 Republican budget. The budget put forth by the Democrats would have reduced the deficit to less than one-third its current level in three years by ending tax breaks for big oil, while preserving the Medicare guarantee and critical funding for education, infrastructure and renewable energy investments.
Any attempts at deficit reduction should be fair, balanced and involve shared sacrifice, and I will not support a plan that unfairly burdens low and middle-income families. Economists agree that we will only achieve fiscal balance through a combination of spending cuts and revenue measures. According to the Office of Management and Budget, total tax expenditures are a little over $1 trillion a year, almost equal to total discretionary spending for FY13 ($1.1 trillion). It’s clear that we cannot fix our budget through cutting alone; we must make tough decisions on both the spending and revenue side of the ledger.
We must also continue to work towards addressing one of the primary cost drivers of the federal budget – entitlement spending, specifically within Medicare. The comprehensive health reform law begins to address these challenges by reducing costs and extending the Medicare trust fund, without cutting benefits. Savings can be achieved without unduly sacrificing the health and well-being of our seniors, low-income and disabled citizens.
Finally, we should not impose fiscal austerity at the risk of our economic recovery, or cut just for the sake of cutting. We have a serious budget deficit, but we also have a significant jobs deficit. Rhode Island’s unemployment rate remains one of the highest in the nation. This is completely unacceptable and does not represent the true potential of our great state. I will continue to work diligently to ensure that the federal government funds programs that help Rhode Islanders heat their homes, put food on their tables, and send their children to college. Our budgets reflect our values and our priorities. We must continue to prioritize immediate investments in education, biomedical research and clean energy that will strengthen our recovery, while seeking a balanced approach to deficit reduction over the long term so we can return to a strong and prosperous economy.
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