[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 31 (Tuesday, March 15, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H1500-H1501]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             BLUE DOG COALITION 12-STEP BUDGET REFORM PLAN

  (Mr. COOPER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks and include extraneous 
material.)
  Mr. COOPER. Mr. Speaker, this week the House of Representatives will 
pass a budget for the United States of America, $2.6 trillion. Whatever 
budget passes this House should include the Blue Dog Coalition's reform 
measures. These measures have been praised by groups as diverse as the 
Concord Coalition, the Heritage Foundation, the National Taxpayers 
Union, Citizens Against Government Waste, Taxpayers For Common Sense 
and, Centrists.org.
  What is in this package? It is basically a 12-step plan. That is 
right, a 12-step plan to get our Nation off its drunken deficit binge. 
We need to take serious measures here such as a balanced budget 
amendment to the Constitution, such as real PAYGO, such as the simple 
step of requiring we have a cost estimate of every bill that comes 
before this House.
  There is too much unaccountability here. We need to make sure that 
Members are held accountable. Our deficit is perhaps the gravest 
national threat that we face. This should be done on a bipartisan basis 
and whatever passes this House should have the Blue Dog Coalition 
reform measures in it.

     Blue Dog Coalition--Praise for the 12-Step Budget Reform Plan

        ``The budget reform package introduced by the House Blue 
     Dog Coalition is a credible, balanced package that offers the 
     potential for bipartisan agreement on meaningful reforms. 
     Many of the proposals in the package have bipartisan support 
     or have received bipartisan support in the past.''--Ed 
     Lorenzen, Centrists.org
        ``The Blue Dogs deserve credit for putting out a strong, 
     serious proposal to restrain runaway spending. Taken together 
     with the Republican Study Committee's similar proposal and 
     Administration initiatives, this proposal represent a growing 
     bipartisan consensus that sanity must and can be restored to 
     the federal budget process.''--Brian Reidl, Heritage 
     Foundation
        ``I'm pleased there seems to be a mounting consensus on 
     Capitol Hill that spending is out of control and something 
     must be done. . . . The Blue Dogs have provided 12 ideas to 
     bring more order to the budget process.''--Tom Schatz, 
     Citizens Against Government Waste
        ``[W]ith the Blue Dog Democrats now offering serious ideas 
     on how to change the course of our fiscal ship, conditions 
     are ripe to make desperately needed bipartisan repairs to the 
     faulty rudder that has been steering the budget process into 
     a sea of red ink . . . Taken as a whole, the Blue Dog 
     proposal moves the debate over budget reform forward.''--Tad 
     DeHaven, National Taxpayers Union
       ``Taxpayers for Common Sense Action applauds the Blue Dog 
     Coalition's 12-step plan to cure our nation's addiction to 
     deficits. The first step to overcoming any addiction is to 
     admit you have a problem. Congress and the President can take 
     their first strides toward budgetary recovery by enacting 
     many of these proposals immediately.''--Jill Lancelot, 
     Taxpayers for Common Sense
                                  ____


    Blue Dog Coalition--Praise for the 2004 Budget Enforcement Bill

       ``The Concord Coalition strongly supports the Blue Dog 
     Coalition's call for a tough new budget enforcement law . . . 
     We are particularly pleased that the budget enforcement plan 
     the Blue Dogs have put forward would restore statutory caps 
     for discretionary spending and the original pay-as-you-go 
     requirement for entitlement expansions and tax cuts.''--Bob 
     Bixby, Concord Coalition
                                  ____


  Blue Dog Coalition--12-Point Reform Plan for Restoring Fiscal Sanity

       1. Require a balanced budget.--Blue Dogs support a 
     Constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget every 
     year except in times of war or national emergency.
       Blue Dogs believe a Balanced Budget Amendment is the only 
     way to ensure fiscal discipline in Congress.
       The Blue Dog Balanced Budget Amendment would require a 
     three-fifths vote of both the House and Senate to increase 
     the debt limit or to waive the balanced budget requirement.
       In addition, the Blue Dog Balanced Budget Amendment 
     protects Social Security from benefit cuts and forbids 
     increases in Social Security payroll taxes in order to 
     balance the budget.
       2. Don't let Congress buy on credit.--Thanks to 
     irresponsible spending, our nation's budget deficit in 2004 
     was the largest in recorded history--$413 billion. Blue Dogs 
     want to restore the budget rules that Congress once lived by, 
     including, most importantly, ``pay-as-you-go'' budgeting.
       Known as ``PAYGO,'' this means that any new spending must 
     be paid for by cuts in other programs or by new revenues. 
     Restoring PAYGO will end irresponsible deficit spending and 
     put our nation back on track toward fiscal responsibility. 
     The Blue Dog budget package would extend PAYGO rules through 
     2010.
       3. Put a lid on spending.--From 2001 to 2003, total 
     government spending soared by 16 percent. Blue Dogs want 
     strict spending caps to slow the growth of runaway government 
     programs. Blue Dogs propose holding the line on discretionary 
     spending for the next three fiscal years at 2.1 percent--the 
     percentage increase proposed this year in the President's 
     fiscal 2006 budget.
       4. Require agencies to put their fiscal houses in order.--
     According to the Government Accounting Office, 16 of 23 major 
     federal agencies can't issue a simple audit of

[[Page H1501]]

     their books. Worse, the Federal Government can't account for 
     $24.5 billion spent in 2003. Government auditors should be 
     doing a better job of tracking taxpayer dollars. Blue Dogs 
     propose a budget freeze for any federal agency that can't 
     properly balance its books.
       5. Make Congress tell taxpayers how much they're 
     spending.--Many spending bills slide through Congress on a 
     voice vote with no debate and many members vote on bills 
     without knowing their cost. Blue Dogs propose that any bills 
     calling for more than $50 million in new spending must be put 
     to a roll-call vote.
       6. Set aside a rainy-day fund.--Under current law, almost 
     any spending can be designated an ``emergency,'' and so-
     called ``emergency spending'' has turned into a giant 
     loophole for non-emergency spending. Blue Dogs propose 
     closing this loophole by defining emergency and requiring 
     Congress to have a separate vote on items that are designated 
     ``emergency'' spending. Blue Dogs also propose creating a 
     rainy-day fund--something that 45 states currently do.
       7. Don't hide votes to raise the debt limit.--Current House 
     rules allow for automatic increases in the debt limit if 
     Congress passes a budget resolution that increases the public 
     debt. Since its establishment in 1980, this rule has been 
     used to shield as many as 12 separate increases in the debt 
     limit from a vote. Blue Dogs believe that increases in the 
     public debt limit shouldn't be hidden from public view. Blue 
     Dogs propose to change the current rules so that every 
     increase in the public debt limit must be subject to a 
     rollcall vote.
       8. Justify spending for pet projects.--Every year, Congress 
     spends billions on wasteful pork-barrel projects, such as $50 
     million for an indoor rainforest in Iowa and funding for the 
     Paper Industry International Hall of Fame.
       Since 1991, Congress has spent $185 billion on pet projects 
     for members of Congress, and in fiscal 2004 alone, pork-
     barrel spending totaled $22.9 billion.
       While many of these projects may be worthy of taxpayer 
     support, many are not. Blue Dogs propose that members of 
     Congress must provide written justification, available to the 
     public, of any earmarked spending for pet projects.
       9. Ensure that Congress reads the bills it's voting on.--
     Over the past few years, some of the largest spending bills 
     in American history have been voted on after only a few hours 
     of consideration. For example, the Medicare prescription drug 
     bill, now estimated to cost $720 billion over the next ten 
     years, went to a vote barely a day after the final version of 
     the 500 + page bill was made available to members of 
     Congress. Blue Dogs propose that members of Congress should 
     be given a minimum of three-days to have the final text of 
     legislation made available to them before there is a vote.
       10. Require honest cost estimates for every bill that 
     Congress votes on.--Both taxpayers and members of Congress 
     should be aware of the price tag for any legislation passed 
     by Congress, and there are no current requirements that bills 
     be accompanied by an honest and objective estimate of their 
     fiscal impact. Blue Dogs propose that every conference report 
     and bill that comes to the floor of the House be accompanied 
     by a cost estimate prepared by the nonpartisan Congressional 
     Budget Office (CBO).
       11. Make sure new bills fit the budget.--The Budget 
     Committee can play an important role in making sure that new 
     legislation passed by Congress lives within the rules agreed 
     upon by Congress in the annual budget resolution.
       Blue Dogs propose that the Budget Committee strengthen its 
     oversight role by preparing budget compliance statements for 
     every bill that is reported out of committee for 
     consideration by the full Congress.
       12. Make Congress do a better job of keeping tabs on 
     government programs.--Blue Dogs believe that one way to 
     restrain growth in federal spending is to ensure that 
     taxpayer dollars are spent wisely. Blue Dogs also believe 
     that Congress can do a better job of carrying out its 
     oversight responsibilities. Blue Dogs propose that each 
     committee be required to submit reports at least twice a 
     year, available to the public, that provide an update on how 
     each committee is fulfilling its oversight duties.

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