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July 8, 2010 in Opinion
David S. Broder: Congress shirks fiscal duty
On June 30, the Congressional Budget Office issued its long-term outlook, predicting that deficits would come down for the next few years as the need for counterrecession spending eases and revenues improve. But then, it warned, “unsustainable” red ink would flow again, creating debts not seen since World War II.
The very next day the House of Representatives passed a one-year budget resolution rather than the normal blueprint committing the government to a fiscal plan of at least five years.
For all the publicity that goes to earmarks and other spending gimmicks, this was a far worst dereliction of duty. And the cynicism of the maneuver just made it worse.
One of the casualties of this maneuver is the partnership that has developed between Kent Conrad of North Dakota, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, and Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, its ranking Republican. In January, they were co-sponsors of the legislation to create a National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, whose recommendations for closing the budget gap would be guaranteed an up or down vote in Congress.
The commission legislation was defeated when seven Republican senators who had initially co-sponsored it defected on the roll call. At that point, President Obama stepped in and rescued the idea, creating the commission by executive order.
Now, in a stunning reversal, the Democrats are using the existence of the commission to justify their abandonment of their long-term budget responsibilities. Speaker Nancy Pelosi brazenly hailed the one-year substitute as “another key step … in restoring fiscal responsibility.” Rep. John Spratt of South Carolina, the House budget committee chairman, more modestly termed it “the functional equivalent of a traditional budget resolution.”
“These are disciplines for the short run,” Spratt said, “while the fiscal commission works out recommendations for the longer run.”
The Republicans, who had been rightly roasted for abandoning Conrad and Gregg on the vote to create the commission, were not about to let the Democrats pull off this bait and switch. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the top Republican on Spratt’s committee, said in a statement: “This is not a budget. The measure fails to meet the most basic, commonly understood objectives of any budget. It does not set congressional priorities; it does not align overall spending, tax, deficit and debt levels; and it does nothing to address the runaway spending of federal entitlement programs.”
When I reached Gregg by phone, he said the commission – on which both he and Ryan serve, and to which the Democrats were ostensibly deferring – “remains a hope-and-prayer exercise.” Its work has barely begun and it is not due to report until December.
Gregg speculated that the reason the Democrats did not pass a real budget resolution is because “they do not want to let the American people see how bad the five-year numbers really are.”
My next call was to Conrad, and I felt nothing but pity for him. He had actually passed a credible five-year budget through his committee, but deferred to the leadership and did not call it up for a floor vote. Now, he said, with the House’s action, “it makes no sense. There’s nothing for it to link up to.”
The terrible irony in all this? More and more people are seeing that what this agonizing situation requires is a limited and temporary measure to pump more life into the economy and create jobs, along with a serious commitment to impose real spending discipline and hold down deficits in the long term – exactly what a five-year budget resolution could provide.
Gregg and Conrad agree that such a resolution could “unleash huge energy back into the economy,” because corporations are hoarding $1.8 trillion in their treasuries and consumers are sitting on billions more.
Of all the times for Congress to abandon its responsibility for long-term fiscal planning, this is the worst.
David Broder is a columnist for the Washington Post. His e-mail address is davidbroder@washpost.com.
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Arch_Druid on July 08 at 7:17 a.m.
When I looked at David Broder’s column this morning, I was shaking my head, uh what? Now its calm down dude, calm down!
I thought that it was always a fact that Congress passed budgets year by year. That not until now was a “five year plan” even contemplated. Seems to me that if it was abandoned in favor of traditional means of doing business; the reason why was that it would be too constraining.
Congress might face an emergency situation for which funding would be immediately needed. Would a five year plan factor in the costs of war, sudden surges in “entitlement spending” like Social Security for example, bringing home pork to various districts? Considering all the gray areas that might be legitimate requirements for future spending and obviously those things that no member of Congress is going to abandon inclusive of earmarks and “studies” that bring home the bacon to various Congressional districts which may not be. Seems to me that the only way Congress will ever adopt a “five year plan” is when Congress is itself prepared to accept certain fiscal restraints.
Until then, they’ll continue to pass one year resolutions.
bdr on July 08 at 12:18 p.m.
I think Broder needs to breath into a paper bag,
The Cbos budget is the Best of the Best.
Obviously we just lived threw a unchecked AIG economy that took every dollar they had, and created 30 imaginary dollars.
(30 to 1 leverage is what it was called)
the CBO had no idea the USA economy was running rich on 30 imaginary dollars
The CBO is limited to real dollars not imaginary and not leveraged.
The only leverage it has is the worlds biggest and advanced military!