[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 4 (Monday, January 24, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S137-S138]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR A SOUND FUTURE ACT

  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, the Fiscal Responsibility for a Sound 
Future Act, S. 19, would help restore budget discipline and fiscal 
responsibility to our Nation's finances. Given the Federal budget's 
dramatic swing from record surplus to record deficit and debt over the 
last few years, it is vital that we restore the strong budget 
enforcement mechanisms that have worked in the past.
  This legislation would return us to a path of budget discipline by 
restoring a strong pay-go rule, reinstating sequestration to enforce 
pay-go and discretionary spending caps, and limiting the use of 
reconciliation to deficit reduction legislation.
  The first step we should take to put our Nation's finances back in 
order is to stop digging the hole deeper. Restoring a strong pay-go 
rule would help to do exactly that. This legislation would restore the 
Senate pay-as-you-go rule to require that mandatory spending and tax 
legislation be fully paid for, or be subject to a 60-vote point of 
order. Pay-go is one of the crucial budget enforcement tools that 
allowed the Federal Government to move from deficit to surplus in the 
1990s. Unfortunately, the Senate pay-go rule has been weakened in 
recent years, in order to allow for passage of large tax cuts. Since 
then, deficits and debt have skyrocketed.
  In 2004, a Democratic amendment was adopted to the Senate Republican 
budget resolution that would have restored a strong pay-go rule 
requiring that both mandatory spending and tax cuts be paid for. 
However, the Republican leadership refused to accept a budget 
resolution conference agreement that contained the provision, so the 
budget resolution was never adopted and the strong pay-go rule was 
never brought into effect. The Fiscal Responsibility for a Sound Future 
Act

[[Page S138]]

would end the current practice of exempting all mandatory spending and 
tax cuts assumed in the budget resolution from the pay-as-you-go rule, 
and extend the Senate pay-go rule currently set to expire in 2008 
through fiscal year 2015.
  The bill would also reinstate sequestration, across-the-board 
spending cuts, to enforce pay-go and discretionary spending limits. 
Legislation that exceeds fiscal year 2005 discretionary spending caps, 
as well as mandatory spending and tax legislation that would increase 
the deficit, would trigger sequesters. The bill also expresses the 
sense of the Senate that a statutory discretionary spending limit 
should be enacted for 2006 to prevent passing more debt on to our 
children.
  The bill would also limit the use of the Senate's fast-track 
``reconciliation'' procedures, which cut off debate after only 20 
hours, to deficit reduction legislation. Legislation that would 
increase the deficit could still be considered in the Senate, but could 
not be expedited using reconciliation procedures. This would restore 
reconciliation to its original purpose of deficit reduction, and ensure 
that any legislation increasing deficits is subject to full scrutiny, 
debate, and consideration in the Senate.
  In addition, the legislation would prohibit the fast-tracking of 
Congressional budget resolutions that contain a reconciliation 
instruction that would worsen the deficit. Any budget resolution that 
includes an instruction to a committee to increase the deficit would be 
subject to unlimited debate rather than limited to 50 hours.
  We must return our Nation to a path of fiscal responsibility. We must 
put an end to these record deficits and record debt. This legislation 
presents a clear test of whether we are serious about putting our 
fiscal house back in order. I urge my colleagues to support this 
legislation.

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