CRFB

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its updated budget and economic projections today, showing the appearance of a sustainable debt trajectory over the next ten years. However, these projections do not incorporate the costs of policies lawmakers are very likely to continue, nor do they show the long-term costs of an aging population and growing health care costs beyond the ten year window.

Among our major findings based on the report:

Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the important topic of fixing the budget process. It is a privilege to appear before the Committee.

At the end of last year, lawmakers enacted a temporary two-month extension of several policies set to expire, including the temporary payroll tax holiday, expanded unemployment insurance, the doc fix, and various health provisions. Encouragingly, the $33 billion cost of the extensions was fully offset over a ten-year period and a Conference Committee was appointed to determine how any further extensions would be treated.

1. Make Deficit Reduction a Top Priority.
2. Propose Specific Fiscal Targets.
3. Recommend Specific Policies to Achieve the Targets.
4. Do No Harm.
5. Use Honest Numbers and Avoid Budget Gimmicks.
6. Do Not Perpetuate Budget Myths.
7. Do Not Attack Someone Else's Plan Without Putting Forward an Alternative.
8. Refrain From Pledges That Take Policies Off the Table.
9. Propose Specific Solutions for Social Sec

At the end of this month, over 80 tax and spending policies are set to expire. How lawmakers deal with any extensions of these policies has important implications for the federal budget and could represent either a step forward for fiscal sustainability or else a step backward.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget – along with many other lawmakers, business leaders, former government officials, and policy experts – has called on the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (“Super Committee”) to go beyond its current mandate of finding $1.5 trillion in savings to recommend two to three times as much in order to stabilize the federal debt and reduce it as a share of the economy.

October 29, 2011

Dear Senator Baucus,

On behalf of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, I want to thank you for your work on the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, and the recent proposal you introduced into the discussions. Without having seen all the details, this appears to us to be a serious and credible proposal to reduce the deficit and help put the debt on a more sustainable path.

Chairman Hensarling, Chairwoman Murray, members of the Committee, thank you for inviting us here today to discuss the recommendations of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, and thank you for your continued hard work to improve our nation’s fiscal situation. We know, a little too well, how difficult your job is.

Given recent reports of the challenges facing the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (Super Committee) in achieving their $1.2 -- $1.5 trillion savings mandate, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget released an analysis arguing that shooting for two to three times as much savings can actually increase the chances of the Committee's success.

In the analysis, CRFB argues that a Go Big approach can improve the chances of the Super Committee succeeding by:

As the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (Super Committee) tries to identify $1.2 - $1.5 trillion in savings to meet its mandate, it should consider Going Big instead. While forging bipartisan consensus oneven $1.2 trillion in saving is no easy task, a Go Big approach of saving two to three times as much could actually increase the chances of success.