[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 153 (Tuesday, October 20, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H7005-H7007]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REQUIRING BUDGET SUBMISSIONS TO PROVIDE AN ESTIMATE OF THE COST PER
TAXPAYER OF THE DEFICIT
Mr. MESSER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 1315) to amend section 1105(a) of title 31, United States
Code, to require that annual budget submissions of the President to
Congress provide an estimate of the cost per taxpayer of the deficit,
and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 1315
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. REQUIREMENT IN BUDGET SUBMISSION WITH RESPECT TO
THE COST PER TAXPAYER OF THE DEFICIT.
Section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, is
amended--
(1) redesignating paragraph (37) (relating to the list of
outdated or duplicative plans and reports) as paragraph (39);
and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(40) in the case of a fiscal year in which the budget is
projected to result in a deficit, an estimate of the pro rata
cost of such deficit for taxpayers who will file individual
income tax returns for taxable years ending during such
fiscal year.''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Indiana (Mr. Messer) and the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Yarmuth) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Indiana.
General Leave
Mr. MESSER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks
and include any extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.
[[Page H7006]]
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Indiana?
There was no objection.
Mr. MESSER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, first, I apologize for my voice today. My son, Hudson,
and I attended the Patriots-Colts game on Sunday night, and,
unfortunately, the Colts were not successful by a touchdown, but I lost
my voice in the process of rooting them on.
I would like to thank Budget Chairman Tom Price and Ranking Member
Van Hollen for bringing H.R. 1315 to the floor. I rise today in support
of this small but important measure.
H.R. 1315 requires the President's annual budget submission to
Congress to include the cost per taxpayer of any budget deficit in a
given fiscal year. This bill is based on a simple principle: each
hardworking American taxpayer deserves to know how much the deficit
costs them each year. This requirement would be a powerful reminder to
the President and the Congress that our decisions here in Washington
have real-world consequences.
Since 2010, the national debt has increased by over $5 trillion. That
is unsustainable, and it is irresponsible. Rather than make some tough
choices, we just spend more money we don't have and borrow some more.
Unfortunately, because of out-of-control spending, we will, once again,
be hitting our debt ceiling soon. That means in 2 weeks, we will have
borrowed the maximum amount of money our country is allowed to borrow
by law, which now is $18.1 trillion.
Now, think about that for a second. We are $18.1 trillion in debt.
That is approximately $154,000 per taxpayer. And instead of asking
ourselves, ``How can we stop the borrow-and-spend cycle?'' we are
asking, ``Should we borrow more money?''
Mr. Speaker, it is past time we get our fiscal house in order. I know
this bill won't solve our Nation's fiscal problems, and it won't
prevent the government from spending more money that it doesn't have;
however, making this information the bill requires more easily
accessible will help us and our constituents better understand the
real-world impact of budgets that never balance.
It is past time we get our fiscal house in order. I know this bill,
again, won't solve our Nation's problems.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. YARMUTH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss H.R. 1315, legislation which
requires the President's budget to include an estimate of the size of
the deficit on a per-taxpayer basis. I don't oppose this legislation--
indeed, I voted for a previous version of it in the last Congress--but
I am having a hard time understanding what, if anything, it will
accomplish.
Requiring the President's budget to include a basic calculation will
do nothing to produce better policies or outcomes that the American
people are demanding. And when I say ``a basic calculation,'' I am
talking about a calculation that my 7-year-old nephew, Lucas, could do
probably without his smartphone. But I will vote ``yes'' because I
don't think this bill will do any harm.
I do think it says something about the majority's priorities that
this bill is even being considered. We are facing a series of enormous
and serious budget issues, yet the majority is devoting floor time to
legislation that is essentially meaningless.
Our government is now operating with funding under a continuing
resolution that will expire on December 11, and we have failed to
address the pending, across-the-board cuts known as sequestration that
will drastically reduce funding for education, infrastructure, job
training, and nutrition programs for children and the elderly. Those
programs aren't meaningless. Millions of Americans depend on them.
On top of all that, unless Congress acts, we will default on the full
faith and credit of the United States in less than a month. That would
cost our economy billions of dollars. We need to be meeting the urgency
of the situation with urgent action on the House floor to raise the
debt ceiling and avert a disastrous default.
Additionally, we only have a few weeks left before the Federal
highway program runs out of money again, yet it isn't even scheduled
for floor debate. We have yet to extend tax provisions that benefit
millions of taxpayers, both individuals and small businesses. They
deserve certainty, not meaningless legislation like this.
These priorities, which are also the priorities of the American
people, demand our attention. We should be working on reaching
agreements to resolve these issues. Instead, we are not just wasting
our time, we are wasting America's time.
Let's face it, this bill has two purposes: first, to create the
illusion for the American people that Congress is actually being
productive; and, second, to suggest, and possibly to scare, millions of
Americans into thinking that they will be responsible for a certain
amount of debt--an absurd notion, just as the notion that every
American bears an equal share of our tax burden.
So, Mr. Speaker, I will vote for this bill. Again, I think it is a
pointless exercise, but that is kind of where Congress is in this
unfortunate era.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. MESSER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I appreciate the gentleman's comments. I certainly appreciate his
support for the legislation. I would just suggest I don't think this is
meaningless at all. I think it is important that we let the American
taxpayer understand the true cost of operating our government with
constant deficits.
When you throw around numbers in this town like billion and trillion,
it is very hard to put them into a scale that the average American can
understand. When you look at a $400-billion deficit that we now have on
the books--and somehow brag to ourselves, as if we are somehow serving
the American people well--and you divide that by 152 million taxpayers,
it is over $3,000 we are still adding to the debt. When you look at the
entire national debt of $18 trillion, it is $150,000 a person. It is
unsustainable.
There are, of course, costs to the economy. No one is suggesting that
a bill collector is going to come to an individual taxpayer's door,
knock, and ask for $150,000. But it gives us a sense of the scale of
debt that we are accumulating--five times, for the individual taxpayer,
the average wage in this American society.
It is unsustainable, and it ought to be called out. That is why we
have this bill. I think there can be honest disagreements about how we
solve our fiscal challenges, but no disagreement about the fact that we
ought to be transparent with the American people about what we are
doing.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. YARMUTH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the remarks of my friend from across the
Ohio River. I would say that if we want to do things like show what the
per-taxpayer impact of our decisions might be, we also might want to
look at how much the Federal deficit has been reduced in the last 8
years.
In 2009, when President Obama came into office, the Federal deficit
was $1.4 trillion. It is now right about just over $400 billion--still
a lot of money. But I did the calculation, and that is almost a $7,000
reduction in the deficit per individual taxpayer over the last 8 years.
So it can be a positive thing as well.
But if we want to add a mathematical calculation to a budget, we
really ought to be looking at the one the Republican Party approved in
March. That budget, the Republican House budget, doesn't add up. When I
say that, I mean it literally doesn't add up. Here are a couple of
examples:
Their budget fully repeals ObamaCare but still counts all the revenue
that is raised from the law.
The House has approved more than $610 billion worth of tax cuts this
year, yet none of that lost revenue is accounted for in the Republican
budget.
There are other tax cuts that are scheduled to expire that we all
know will be extended, but, again, the Republican budget reflects none
of that lost revenue.
So, yes, I will support this bill which requires that the President's
budget include this one very basic calculation. I just wish my
colleagues on the other side of the aisle would apply basic addition
and subtraction to their own budget and, more importantly, deal with
[[Page H7007]]
the truly important issues that confront this country in the weeks to
come.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. MESSER. Again, Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Kentucky for
his remarks.
I believe the most direct path towards a healthier and more secure
economy now and in the future is less spending, lower taxes, a balanced
budget, and a smaller debt. The first step, though, is more
transparency, letting taxpayers know what is happening here. Mr.
Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1315.
I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Messer) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 1315.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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