[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 83 (Tuesday, May 14, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3678-S3680]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Budget Enforcement Levels
Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I submit to the Senate the budget for
fiscal year 2025. Last summer, Congress agreed to a 2-year budget deal
as part of negotiations surrounding the debt limit. That was the
bipartisan Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, or the FRA. It included a
provision to serve in place of a formal budget resolution for both
fiscal years 2024 and 2025. I am submitting the necessary budgetary
levels to implement that agreement today.
In the Budget Committee, my Republican colleagues have suggested that
we should be debating a budget resolution. So I will take this moment
to remind them that we already have one in place from that agreement. I
don't see our committee wasting precious time on something that has
already been decided, when we could and, indeed, should be preparing
for the future.
When at least $10 trillion of our national debt stems from two
exogenous shocks to the economy--namely, the 2008 financial crisis and
the COVID pandemic--it would be folly for the Budget Committee not to
focus on future shocks to our economy, which is why the Budget
Committee has been focused on threats to our Nation's long-term fiscal
outlook and on proposing solutions--like how climate change poses
systemic risks to our economy, like how tax cuts for the wealthy are
driving up deficits, like
[[Page S3679]]
how making the wealthy pay their fair share would protect Social
Security and Medicare essentially forever, like how we can cut
healthcare costs with zero cuts to benefits if we pursue commonsense
reforms to healthcare delivery systems.
When it comes to the economy-wide risks from climate change, we have
heard from economists, central bankers, financial experts, insurance
and mortgage industry leaders, and many others who are ringing the
alarm bells.
In the Budget Committee, we have heard testimony about rising seas
making large swaths of coastline less and less habitable and less and
less insurable. I am sure the Presiding Officer is seeing that in his
home State of Georgia. As the decades unspool ahead of us, more and
more coastal communities will be at risk, eventually rendering an
estimated trillions of dollars in real estate virtually worthless.
We have heard similar testimony about property becoming uninsurable
in wildfire-risk areas. We are already seeing insurers flee communities
on the frontlines of climate change. We have seen premiums skyrocketing
in response to increased climate-related damages. Things will likely
get uglier.
So the committee launched investigations into the climate change-
fueled insurance crisis. We are working with Democrats on the House
Oversight Committee on an investigation into the fossil fuel
disinformation campaign in order to better understand how it stalled
political progress on climate action and imperiled our economy.
What our joint investigation revealed is that Big Oil knew the
environmental and economic harms of its products but deceived the
American public so as to keep producing and selling ever more oil and
gas. We learned that Big Oil and its trade associations continue to
oppose climate policies, including ones that they publicly claim to
support.
Unfortunately, our series of hearings on climate costs and the fossil
fuel industry's role in perpetuating the climate crisis has been
largely met with derision or mockery or just trying to change the
subject by many of my Republican colleagues. As I said at the last
hearing on this subject, you can have your opinion now, but history
will judge.
While acknowledging that revenue is a subject within the purview of
the Budget Committee, Republican response to our hearings on raising
revenue has not evinced much substantive interest. There is not much
outrage, for instance, that big corporations pay lower tax rates than
plumbers.
The Budget Committee has held seven hearings, with more planned,
examining how tax cuts for the wealthy and for big corporations and the
resulting tax gap have been actually primary drivers of our deficit. We
have learned that the Bush and Trump tax cuts have added $10 trillion
to the debt and, in fact, are the main reason the debt as a share of
the economy is increasing.
According to CBO, extending the Trump tax cuts, which Republicans
appear to want to do, would cost another $4.6 trillion--that is
trillion with a ``t''--mostly for billionaires and big corporations.
You can see where the priorities lie.
We have heard testimony that by closing loopholes, making the wealthy
and large corporations pay a fairer share, and cracking down on wealthy
tax cheats, we can protect Social Security and Medicare forever, invest
in an economy that works for everyone, and reduce our deficit--like my
Medicare and Social Security Fair Share Act, which would shore up these
twin pillars of retirement security essentially forever without raising
taxes on anyone making less than $400,000.
What have Republicans proposed? Well, not much. They spent decades
trying to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits, and then they rose
to their feet in acclamation, in last year's State of the Union
Address, to assure the American public that they would not cut
benefits. Well, if that is the case, then the only solution left is
more revenue. So it would be nice if they were willing to discuss how
to make the wealthy pay their fair share and protect these programs
into the future.
Another big driver of Federal spending is healthcare. The United
States continues to spend more on healthcare as a percentage of GDP
than any other peer OECD country, and the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Actuary estimates healthcare will grow to 20 percent GDP by
2031. For all that spending, the average life expectancy in America is
lower than that of many peer countries with far more efficient
healthcare systems.
So the Budget Committee is tackling this too. We held a series of
hearings on reducing inefficiencies in healthcare that increase costs
for patients, families, and the Federal Government. In just our most
recent hearing, we heard how administrative burdens--the billing,
reporting, and all the nonclinical work incidental to the actual
delivery of healthcare--are responsible for over half a trillion
dollars in healthcare spending every year.
And here, I am happy to report that there have been bipartisan
glimmers of hope. There has been bipartisan agreement on the source of
these problems, and I have begun conversations with Ranking Member
Grassley about what legislation we might be able to work on together in
this space.
I can only wish that my Republican colleagues were similarly willing
to have serious conversations on climate risk and on revenue
opportunities. As our hearings have made clear, if you care about
American debt deficits, you have to care about climate change, about
unrigging our Tax Code, and about addressing wasteful spending in
healthcare.
And with that, section 122 of the FRA requires that I submit the
levels that will be used to enforce the second year of the spending
agreement. This submission sets the spending level for appropriations
for 2025 at the spending caps in law and allows the Appropriations
Committee to begin its work.
It also sets mandatory spending and revenue levels for 10 years at
current law levels. I am also updating the reserve fund in the FRA to
be available for legislation that doesn't increase the deficit between
2025 and 2034.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that these accompanying tables
be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
ALLOCATION OF SPENDING AUTHORITY TO SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
FOR FISCAL YEAR 2025
(Pursuant to Section 122 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 and
Section 302 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974)
[$ in billions]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Budget
Authority Outlays
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Appropriations:
Revised Security Category/Defense......... 895.212 N/A
Revised Nonsecurity Category/Nondefense... 710.688 N/A
General Purpose Discretionary............. N/A 1,869.797
Memo:
On-budget................................. 1,599.212 1,863.193
Off-budget................................ 6.688 6.604
Mandatory................................. 1,562.610 1,544.166
------------------------------------------------------------------------
N/A = not applicable. Budgetary changes related to program integrity
initiatives and other adjustments pursuant to section 251(b) of the
Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, as amended by the
Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, will be held in reserve until
consideration of legislation providing such funding. ``Revised
security category'' means discretionary appropriations in budget
function 050, while ``revised nonsecurity category'' means
discretionary appropriations other than in budget function 050.
ALLOCATION OF SPENDING AUTHORITY TO SENATE COMMITTEES OTHER THAN APPROPRIATIONS
(Pursuant to Section 122 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 and Section 302 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974)
[$ in billions]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2025 2025- 2029 2025- 2034
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry;
Budget Authority.......................................... 186.630 967.147 2,004.484
Outlays................................................... 175.749 916.958 1,877.482
Armed Services:
Budget Authority.......................................... 287.793 1,094.587 2,053.411
Outlays................................................... 285.585 1,091.957 2,056.297
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs:
Budget Authority.......................................... 29.964 170.669 356.235
Outlays................................................... -14.947 -80.642 -130.907
[[Page S3680]]
Commerce, Science, and Transportation:
Budget Authority.......................................... 24.029 102.967 194.261
Outlays................................................... 18.793 98.312 177.180
Energy and Natural Resources:
Budget Authority.......................................... 10.108 41.737 82.818
Outlays................................................... 14.840 76.740 122.300
Environment and Public Works:
Budget Authority.......................................... 67.352 333.108 664.759
Outlays................................................... 16.385 62.091 88.801
Finance:
Budget Authority.......................................... 3,934.908 21,879.366 51,266.540
Outlays................................................... 3,932.931 21,884.552 51,247.329
Foreign Relations:
Budget Authority.......................................... 52.009 228.212 449.061
Outlays................................................... 49.447 225.675 446.499
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions:
Budget Authority.......................................... 71.215 295.039 584.696
Outlays................................................... 79.517 297.034 564.497
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs:
Budget Authority.......................................... 184.521 965.290 2,033.245
Outlays................................................... 186.079 955.982 2,005.571
Indian Affairs:
Budget Authority.......................................... 0.499 2.382 4.248
Outlays................................................... 0.876 3.120 4.994
Judiciary:
Budget Authority.......................................... 20.696 102.797 209.268
Outlays................................................... 23.650 106.526 210.899
Rules and Administration:
Budget Authority.......................................... 0.052 0.260 0.536
Outlays................................................... 0.030 0.162 0.356
Intelligence:
Budget Authority.......................................... 0.514 2.570 3.598
Outlays................................................... 0.514 2.570 3.598
Veterans' Affairs:
Budget Authority.......................................... 222.290 1,296.471 3,006.815
Outlays................................................... 218.748 1,302.338 3,032.704
Small Business:
Budget Authority.......................................... 0.000 0.000 0.000
Outlays................................................... 0.010 0.010 0.010
Unassigned to Committee:
Budget Authority.......................................... -1,389.309 -7,354.901 -16,808.687
Outlays................................................... -1,377.785 -7,285.811 -16,666.582
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BUDGET AGGREGATES
(Pursuant to Section 122 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 and
Section 302 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974)
[$ in billions]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2025 2025- 2029 2025- 2034
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spending:
Budget Authority............. 5,302.483 N/A N/A
Outlays...................... 5,473.615 N/A N/A
Revenue 3,713.563 21,082.529 47,281.026
Social Security:
Outlays...................... 1,409.171 7,953.297 18,448.817
Revenue...................... 1,284.893 6,946.313 15,335.885
------------------------------------------------------------------------
N/A = not applicable. Figures represent current law, including CBO's
February 2024 baseline and legislation that has subsequently cleared
Congress.
PAY-AS-YOU-GO SCORECARD FOR THE SENATE
[$ in billions]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Balances
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiscal Year 2024........................................... 0
Fiscal Year 2025........................................... 0
Fiscal Years 2025-2029..................................... 0
Fiscal Years 2025-2034..................................... 0
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACCOUNTS IDENTIFIED FOR ADVANCE APPROPRIATIONS
(Pursuant to Section 122 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Financial Services and General Government:
Payment to the Postal Service Fund
Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education:
Employment and Training Administration
Education for the Disadvantaged
School Improvement Programs
Career, Technical, and Adult Education
Special Education
Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development:
Tenant-based Rental Assistance
Project-based Rental Assistance
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. WHITEHOUSE. I will momentarily yield the floor.
____________________