Budget
Deficits Matter — One of my top priorities is getting our fiscal house in order. It's clear to me that deficits of this magnitude are not sustainable. In response, Congress and the Obama administration have to start reining in federal spending or we risk leaving a legacy of debt to our children and grandchildren.
Inherited Challenges — The Obama administration inherited the cost of two wars, the longest recession since World War II, the "bailouts" of Wall Street and the auto industry, and a mounting federal deficit. Whereas President Bush inherited record surpluses eight years ago, President Obama took office inheriting a $1.4 trillion deficit on January 20th and a national debt that had doubled in eight years. In other words, the previous Administration ran up as much new debt in eight years as we did in the previous 225 years as a nation.
On the Path to Recovery — Today, while our economy is showing modest signs of recovery, it remains fragile and is facing a long road until if fully recovers - particularly when it comes to jobs. While costly in the near-term, the emergency actions of Congress, the ARRA and TARP bills, prevented another Great Depression. It also ensured the pain of the recession - and subsequent loss of tax revenue - would not be prolonged. Recovery is on the way, but we now have to use the federal budget process to help restore long-term economic growth in our nation.
Tough Choices — Bringing fiscal discipline to the budget process will require some tough choices. Ultimately, it will require a renewed determination from my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. I remain confident, and believe restoring the fiscal discipline to Washington will enable Congress to focus on such key priorities as enriching our nation's classrooms, making health care coverage more accessible and affordable to more Americans, and investing and developing clean energy initiatives across the country.
Denting the Deficit — Fixing this mess will not be easy. I wanted to share just a few examples of what I'm encouraging Congress to do to help chart a course of fiscal responsibility.
- Reduce waste, abuse, and fraud in Medicare and Medicaid by expanding post audit recovery programs: The federal government spent $456 billion on Medicare last year. Any amount of waste, fraud, and abuse comes at a significant cost to taxpayers. A pilot program started three years ago identified and recovered overpayments made to providers in just three states. The result? $900 million in overpayments were returned to the taxpayer. That is real money, and if we can recover that kind of money for overpayments in just three states, there is an opportunity to replicate that success nationwide.
- Help close the "tax gap": One of the easiest ways we can reduce the deficit is by simply collecting the taxes that are owed to the federal government. Believe it or not, the "tax gap" today is probably close to $400 billion. I plan to introduce legislation this winter to help close the "tax gap" by focusing on improving taxpayer compliance.
- Curb new major weapon systems spending: A decade ago, we were overspending on major weapon systems cost overruns by about $50 billion. Last year, we were close to $300 billion in major weapon systems cost overruns. Clearly that is an area where we can do better and have to do better. Last January, Defense Secretary Gates proposed a number of cuts to weapon systems we have no use for yet continue to run up astounding bills for taxpayers. Congress has heeded several of these already, including earlier this year when we rejected the purchase of seven additional F-22 aircraft at $191 million per plane. Ultimately, we need to align our weapons systems with the kinds of wars we are likely to fight, and avoid writing blank checks to companies that waste taxpayer dollars.
- Enhance the President's ability to get Congress to consider spending cuts: I introduced the bipartisan Budget Enforcement Legislative Tool Act, or BELT Act, to allow the President to help control spending by compelling Congress to vote on eliminating wasteful programs - including earmarks - from appropriation bills, and doing so without vetoing the entire federal spending bill.