--House, Senate Budget Chiefs: Fiscal Trends Must Change --Rep. Price: Deficits Are Too High, Will Only Rise --Sen. Enzi: Will Be 'Difficult Task' To Balance Budget
By John Shaw
WASHINGTON (MNI) - House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi have seized on the budget and economic update by the Congressional Budget Office this week to sharpen their argument that the fiscal status quo is not acceptable and Congress must write plans to balance the federal budget within a decade.
The House Budget Committee held a hearing Tuesday on the CBO report and Price said he views the report as a cry for action.
"In reviewing this report, one thing is abundantly clear: our nation is on an unsustainable path," he said.
"Deficits are historically high right now - and they're projected to start rising again in 2017, and over the next decade, we're going to add $9.5 trillion more to the national debt. That means debt held by the public as a percentage of the economy will grow to 79% by the end of the decade, and remain at these elevated levels," Price said.
"This is at the same time that the amount of revenue that will be coming in to the government will be above the historic average," he added. "In other words, this is not a revenue problem. It's a spending problem, and for all that has been said about the recent decrease in annual deficits, we have not solved our nation's fiscal challenges. In fact, under the status quo, our fiscal and economic concerns are only going to get worse."
Price said the projected increase in debt will mean $5.6 trillion in interest payments alone over the next decade, adding that in 2025 interest on the debt will top $800 billion which is now more than the nation spends on the departments of Transportation, Commerce, and Health and Human Services combined.
"That's just the interest. That's just money going out the window and not being used on other national priorities," he said.
Price said his panel will work on a plan to balance the federal budget.
Enzi, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, made the same commitment Wednesday at his panel's hearing on the CBO report.
He said he's determined to write a 10 year budget resolution that brings the federal budget into balance and places tight controls on spending.
In remarks at the start of a hearing with Doug Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office, Enzi said bringing the federal budget into balance within a decade will be a "difficult task" which he is determined to undertake.
"Together with my House counterpart, I am dedicated to doing all I can so we meet our deadline. This Committee will act on a budget resolution. We will report it out. The Senate will consider it. We will negotiate with the House. We will pass a common budget resolution," Enzi said.
"We will write a plan to restore common sense and good budgeting to Washington. We will act to control the spending, reduce the deficits, and end the debt. We will act to restore balance to our budgets, certainty to our economy, and confidence to our constituents," he added.
--MNI Washington Bureau; tel: +1 202-371-2121; email: jshaw@mni-news.com