[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     outdated or duplicative plans and reports) as paragraph (39); 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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