Congress Acts to Reduce Deficit

Congress Acts to Reduce Deficit
November 25, 2005

Early this summer, I wrote about the deficit falling faster than expected. At that time, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported that federal revenues had risen by 30%. Further, 2005 year-to-date revenues were running $187 billion ahead of the same period in 2004.

Since then, the Southeastern United States has been pounded by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. Hurricane Katrina is among the worst natural disasters in U.S. history. After Hurricane Katrina struck, Congress quickly stepped up and passed spending measures to ensure the proper care of those impacted by the storm and the rebuilding of the region. Congress has already provided $62.5 billion in recovery funding and promised to consider additional funding requests as necessary. The unprecedented and unplanned spending necessitated the Deficit Reduction Act (H.R. 4241). This legislation is essential to keep the country on track to cutting the deficit in half by 2009.

Therefore, I joined with a majority of my House colleagues in support of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. This 800-plus page bill reaches across the U.S. government's budget and finds savings in virtually every federal agency and department to make government more efficient and continue to reduce the deficit. I am confident that as Americans learn the facts about the Deficit Reduction Act, most will agree with the majority of the proposals.

The Deficit Reduction Act will decrease the deficit by $53.9 billion, over five years, primarily from reducing the rate of growth of mandatory spending programs. These are programs that are not subject to the annual appropriations process of the U.S. House and Senate. According to the House Committee on the Budget, mandatory spending programs already devour 54% of the entire U.S. budget, and will rise to 62% by 2015, if left alone.

It is important to be clear and unambiguous: the savings do not come from actual budget cuts. In fact, $18 billion come from new revenues, such as selling broadcast bandwidth spectrums. For the balance, in reality, what the House plan would do is slow down how fast these programs will grow. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) all mandatory spending programs, including entitlement programs, grew by 28% between 2000 and 2005. The CBO estimates that without the Deficit Reduction Act they will grow by 39% during the next five years (2005-2010) and 38% with the legislation. That slight difference in the rate at which the federal government grows can help trim the deficit by $53.9 million over the next five years.

Further, many of the specific programs affected by the Deficit Reduction Act needed reforms regardless of the deficit. For example, one of the specific programs that received considerable coverage was Medicaid. The bipartisan National Governors Association (NGA) has urged Congress to reform Medicaid. In my next column I will expand on the Medicaid provision.

Another important provision of the Deficit Reduction Act addresses one of the key recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. The Commissioners found that interoperability between the communication systems of the different first responders at the World Trade Center created problems and should be addressed. The recommendation stated:

"Congress should support pending legislation which provides for the expedited and increased assignment of radio spectrum for public safety purposes."

The problem reoccurred during the response by emergency first responders to Hurricane Katrina and makes it clear that Congress must take action to solve first responders' interoperability issues.

The Deficit Reduction Act includes provisions to complete the conversion from analog to digital television. The legislation takes part of the bandwidth spectrum currently used by television stations and makes it a dedicated new spectrum for public safety communications, performing a vital public service and fulfilling a critical recommendation of the 9/11 Commission.

I believe that as Americans learn about the actual details of the Deficit Reduction Act, they will approve of the legislation. In addition to reducing the federal deficit, the bill modernizes and reforms many government programs. Most importantly, the Deficit Reduction Act does not cut budgets or programs - except to make them more efficient and more responsible. The Deficit Reduction Act only slows the rate of growth by less than one-half of one percent. Programs that grew by 28% during the past five years will grow by 38% during the next five years, instead of 39%. In the coming weeks, I will address some of the specific reforms and savings.

http://www.house.gov/miketurner/news/columns/11.25.05.shtml