This is a lousy way to run a great nation let alone rebuild a world-class economy.  The budget stalemate in Washington has been far from our democracy’s finest moment.  Yet the essence of any democracy is compromise; the ability to give and take.  Too many of my colleagues have the attitude that “it’s my way or no way at all.”  And they are willing to hold our nation hostage to their demands.

I supported the debt reduction compromise agreement not because I thought it was perfect but because the alternative was unacceptable – defaulting on our obligations for the first time in our nation’s history.  A default would have ruined our AAA bond rating.  Investors at home and abroad would demand a higher premium on their investments driving up interest rates for families and businesses alike.  It would be one of the worst things we could do to an economy struggling to grow and create good paying jobs.  And it would have been completely self-inflicted.

The causes of our budgets deficits are well-documented.  The biggest contributor is an economy that is not growing fast enough or creating enough jobs.  Consumers are still paying off debt and, therefore, not consuming.  When businesses large and small are not selling, they are not hiring.  The uncertainty generated by policymakers also keeps businesses and families on the sidelines waiting to see what happens.

Furthermore, after four years of budget surpluses at the end of the 1990s, when we were paying down the national debt instead of adding to it, a decade followed that brought two wars, two large tax cuts and a new prescription drug bill – and none of it paid for.  These policies help double our national debt in eight short years and they continue today.

So where do we go from here?  This is what we should do.  Grow, cut and raise.

Grow:  We need to grow our economy to create good paying jobs.  We need a national innovation and manufacturing policy so that we can build, grow and create things in America again.  That means an investment in education, job training, infrastructure, scientific research and broadband expansion.  It also means a revenue system that rewards companies that keep jobs in America rather than sending them abroad.  This is what we need to remain the most innovative, competitive nation in the world.

Cut:  We need to cut wasteful and unnecessary spending.  The largest and fastest growing area of spending is health care.  When one out of every three dollars in health care is going to tests and procedures that do not improve patient care, we need to change how health care is delivered and how we pay for it.  We need a payment system that rewards value and not volume; good quality outcomes, not more of everything.  We need to end outdated weapons systems that our Pentagon does not request.  We need to stop rebuilding Afghanistan and Iraq and start rebuilding America.  We need to end taxpayer subsidies going to large agribusinesses with mailing addresses in Manhattan, Chicago and San Francisco. And we need to listen to our Government Accountability Office when it identifies inefficient and duplicative programs.

Raise:  We need a tax code that is simple and fair.  The complexity of our tax system is an economic anchor slowing job growth and benefitting those who can hire tax attorneys to find the special interest loopholes.  It’s not fair that small businesses in western Wisconsin are paying more in taxes than fortune 500 companies like GE.  And it’s not fair to ask seniors to double their out-of-pocket expenses for health care or accept less for Social Security when wealthy Wall Street bankers and big oil companies are asked to contribute nothing.  So yes, some additional revenue is necessary to get our deficits back under control.

These ideas are not new.  In fact, they were the prescription that led to 26 million private sector jobs created in the 1990s, when a growing economy in fact lifted all boats, which led to four years of budget surpluses.  It worked before and it can work again.  But any agreement in the future must be balanced and fair, challenging our nation once again to “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”  

I’m interested in hearing from you.  Please visit my website at www.kind.house.gov to send me and email and tell me how you think we can get our long-term deficits under control.