[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 6822-6823]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               THE BUDGET

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I am going to take a few minutes to talk 
about why the events of the last 24 hours drive home how valuable it 
would be to have a House-Senate budget conference begin to meet and to 
deal with the extraordinary set of fiscal challenges our country has in 
front of us.
  As the President of the Senate knows, a number of Senators on our 
side have been trying to get a budget conference with the House. It has 
been several months since the budget resolutions in the respective 
bodies, in effect, have been set in motion. I want to talk about what 
has happened in the last 24 hours because it again drives home how 
valuable it would be for the Senate and the House to move to a budget 
conference at this time.
  Yesterday the Congressional Budget Office--of course, our official 
arbiter of official numbers and trends--made public a new report 
showing there has been a significant reduction in the budget deficit. 
In fact, their analysis shows there has been something like a 24-
percent reduction from what was estimated a few months ago.
  If we couple that new evidence from the Congressional Budget Office 
with the fact that consumers continue to spend--which is certainly 
encouraging--the housing market coming back, employers adding 165,000 
jobs in April, all of this drives home that in the short term the 
economy is picking up and we are making real progress.
  The point of a budget resolution, on the other hand, is to give us a 
chance to look long term and look at the next 10 years how Democrats 
and Republicans can come together, for example, on the long-term 
challenge of holding down health care costs. We have certainly seen 
progress in the last few months on that.
  There is a debate about why health costs have been moderating of 
late. I happen to think it is because providers and others are 
beginning to see what is ahead, but we can have that debate. Certainly 
there is a lot more to do in terms of holding down health care costs 
for the long term, and that is what I wish to see the Senate and House 
go to in terms of the budget resolution.
  For example--and I think I have talked about this with the President 
of the Senate before--chronic care is where most of the Medicare money 
goes. Chronic care is for people with challenges with heart disease, 
stroke, and diabetes. We have some ideas we believe could be 
bipartisan, and would be exactly the kind of thing the House and Senate 
should take up in a conference on the budget, which we have been 
seeking for some time.
  I only come to the floor today by way of trying to lay out why the 
events of the last few days dramatize how useful it would be for the 
Senate and the House to start thinking about what the country cares 
about, which is our long-term trends.
  In fact, this morning I was struck by the fact that some economic 
theorists say the Congress has, over the last few months, had it 
backwards. We have been consumed with everything short term when, in 
fact, we ought to say: Look at some of those positive developments I 
just cited--including the Congressional Budget Office numbers here

[[Page 6823]]

recently--that would indicate maybe a little bit less of the back and 
forth. That is certainly what voters see as unduly partisan. We need to 
give way to some thoughtful, long-term efforts in perhaps a 10-year 
window, which is what is reflected on the budget side.
  Some of the leading Republicans and some of the archconservatives 
with respect to economic analysis are all saying the same thing: We 
ought to be talking about long-term trends. I, as well as my fellow 
Democratic colleagues, have said that is one of the reasons for a 
budget conference. Glenn Hubbard, for example, one of the most 
respected of the conservatives, talks continually about the long-term 
challenge and the dangers of waiting.
  Well, on this side of the aisle, we are saying we don't want to wait 
anymore in terms of getting to a budget conference. We want to be in a 
position to tackle some of these major kinds of questions: pro-growth 
tax reform--tax reform that can, again, generate revenue, and we have 
some ideas we would like to raise in a budget conference that we think 
would be attractive to the other side.
  So I hope colleagues who have had questions about whether there ought 
to be a budget conference now--an actual budget conference between the 
Senate and the House--will look at these matters anew, given these 
kinds of trends. I would point out, to tell my colleagues the truth, I 
am encouraged on this point. We have heard colleagues over the last few 
days on the other side of the aisle say they too think this is the time 
for an actual budget conference between the House and the Senate. They 
have called for it for a long time. We now have a chance to not just 
call for it but actually do it. If anything, the economic news I have 
cited suggests some of the focus on these short-term trends ought to 
give way to more emphasis on bipartisan concern for the long-term 
trends, which are, in particular, going to revolve around health care, 
especially Medicare, and taxes where we have an opportunity to look at 
bipartisan approaches for tax reform.
  I commend particularly Senator Baucus and Senator Hatch, our 
leadership on the Finance Committee on which I serve, who have been 
talking with Senators in weekly sessions they have pulled together on 
particularly the tax reform issue.
  So we couple the opportunity for the long term, looking at things 
such as chronic health care which is where most of the Medicare dollars 
go. I think there are some good opportunities for protecting the rights 
of seniors while having quality care, holding costs down--those are the 
things we can look at in the longer term, which is what a budget 
resolution is all about.
  So it has been 2 months since the House and Senate adopted their 
respective budget resolutions. I think, if anything, what we have 
learned in the last few days is yet more evidence of why Senators and 
House Members of good will who want to tackle the long-term economic 
challenge--which, if anything, becomes increasingly important day by 
day--ought to go to a budget conference and go forthwith to that effort 
in a bipartisan way.
  Later on today I intend to propound a unanimous consent request to in 
fact go to that conference with the House on the budget, and I urge 
colleagues to join me--I know Senator Coburn is here, and I commend him 
because he has been one who has been interested in tackling long-term 
fiscal challenges. Long-term fiscal challenges, in a debate between the 
House and the Senate over the next 10 years and the future trends we 
are looking at, are going to be front and center. We can tackle those 
questions, particularly on health care and taxes, by going to a 
conference, as well as looking at the long term overall. We would also 
be, in my view, picking up on what economists and leaders in the 
private sector of both political parties are saying now, which is there 
should be a little bit less of a focus on short-term sparring about our 
economy and more of a focus on the long-term economic challenges, which 
is what a House-Senate budget conference, looking at 10 years ahead, 
could be all about.
  With that, I yield the floor and I note the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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