Congressmen John Carney (D-DE) and Jim Renacci (R-OH) today introduced H.R. 2498, the Budget Integrity Act. They were joined by original cosponsors Congressmen Mike Quigley (D-IL), Daniel Webster (R-FL), and Kathleen Rice (D-NY). All five members belong to the Bipartisan Working Group, which Congressmen Carney and Renacci founded in 2011. The group of 26 members, half Democrats and half Republicans, meet once a week over breakfast to work on legislative solutions that both parties can agree on.
The Budget Integrity Act makes a series of changes to improve the federal budget process by requiring Congress to take into account the long-term consequences of its spending decisions. Significantly, the bill ties the budget to the debt limit, so that if Congress passes a budget that adds to the debt, the debt limit will be automatically raised by a corresponding amount. This will ensure that Congress’ spending decisions are more closely tied to financial realities. The bill:
- Requires long-term cost estimates for legislation with a significant fiscal impact
- Codifies rules objecting to legislation that would increase long-term deficits
- Requires CBO and OMB reports on revenue, deficits, and debt over 40 Years
- Ties budget resolutions to a corresponding increase in the debt limit
- Requires GAO Study of the effect of off-balance sheet liabilities
“Over the last four years, Congress’ solution to our budget crisis has been a temporary patchwork of fiscal band-aids, passed at the stroke of midnight before critical deadlines,” said Congressman Carney. “Despite some progress, we continue to find ourselves in the middle of debates over our annual deficits and the debt ceiling. This bill forces Congress to examine its long-term finances and hopefully, will encourage us to come up with a long-term budget plan to avoid these manufactured crises in the future.”
“At a time when our national debt has soared to more than $18 trillion, it’s critical that Congress is provided with an honest picture of our country’s finances so that we can make smarter fiscal choices,” said Congressman Renacci. “Year after year, however, the federal government fails to produce a clean financial statement – leaving many social insurance programs and our largest liabilities off balance sheet. The Budget Integrity Act will allow Congress to more effectively address our country’s dire financial situation, and it is my hope it will pave the way for us come up with a bipartisan solution to get us on a path to fiscal sustainability.”
Carney and Renacci,the founders and co-chairs of the Bipartisan Working Group, added “We look forward to continuing to work on critical issues such as this with our colleagues in the Bipartisan Working Group, where we strive to put progress over politics.”
“If we want to get serious about addressing our unsustainable debt and deficits, then we need a budget process that forces Congress to take a long-term view of the fiscal impact of our decisions,” said Congressman Quigley. “This bill will provide taxpayers with a more accurate account of our long-term fiscal situation, and implements necessary reforms to prevent another fiscally irresponsible debt-ceiling crisis.”
“American taxpayers deserve to have a full and transparent accounting of the financial situation of our country,” said Congressman Webster. “The Budget Integrity Act implements reforms that clearly reveal our economic situation so that we can better solve our debt crisis.”
“This common-sense, bipartisan legislation will restore integrity to a budget process that has become more about political maneuvering than governing responsibly,” said Congresswoman Kathleen Rice. “This bill will make Congress act with more transparency and accountability to the people we serve, and most importantly it will force us to find long-term solutions to our nation’s long-term fiscal challenges and stop passing them off to the next year, the next Congress, and the next generation of Americans.”
Click hereto see a letter of support from Maya MacGuineas, President of Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
Click hereto see a fact sheet with more information about the bill.
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