Blue Dog Coalition

BLUE DOG COALITION -- (House of Representatives - April 04, 2006)

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Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise to add my voice to my fellow Blue Dog Coalition members who are here this evening to have a dose of fiscal sanity, to allow the American people to understand that there is indeed a another choice. Therefore, tonight we hope to give an accurate picture on the budget process that we are about to embark on this week and the lack of fiscal integrity that this budget process unfortunately has, because it lacks a bipartisan effort to provide the sort of financial support that the American public demands.

I too want to commend Mr. Ross and Mr. Cardoza for allowing me to join with them in this effort. I think that Blue Dogs who are fiscally conservative really reflect the mainstream of what America is all about.

The fact of the matter is that this budget resolution that we will debate this week has in its very basic underpinnings a lack of fiscal integrity. Let me talk about a dirty little secret contained in this budget resolution that all Members ought to be aware of. The secret is the offloading of our Federal financial problems onto our States as a strategy to reduce our Nation's budget deficit.

The hypocrisy is clear, through the preemption of State laws, and in spite of a little-used Federal law that prevents unfunded mandates on States, Congress has arrogantly chosen to do just that, and that is to offload on our States.

Do the States have the ability to fill that gap? Well, the National Council of State Legislatures has identified the minimum gap in Federal funding to States caused by unfunded mandates in 2004 fiscal year as being approximately $25.6 billion. In the fiscal year 2005, the amount rose to $26.2 billion.

Evidence by the National Council of State Legislatures shows that this gap will continue over the next decade and could grow as high as $50 billion annually, and we offload our financial responsibilities to States and let them be on their own.

The evidence is clear. It does not take into account inflation and other changes in discretionary spending over the next decade.

I ask my colleagues to recall recent history. In the 1980s and in the 1990s, President Reagan, a former State Governor, understood the necessity of a bipartisan effort to protect the States. President Clinton, another State Governor, codified that recognition of States by signing the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act in which the Congress pledged to no longer continue this practice of passing laws and then telling the States it is your job to figure out how to pay for it.

But this White House, also currently occupied by another former State Governor and many of my colleagues who serve in Congress, over half who come from State legislatures, I believe, have forgotten where they come from.

Do you think we are solving problems when we are just passing them on to our States? I will continue to question the sincerity of those who lead this budget effort to actually achieve responsible fiscal management. The most recent example of that reluctance to embrace sound fiscal management principles was demonstrated last week in the Budget Committee's rejection of an amendment that would reinstitute pay-as-you-go, which my colleagues, Mr. Ross and Mr. Cardoza, have spoken to. Pay-as-you-go is a concept that all of our households employ, which means in your family's budget, you do not spend money that you do not have.

As Members may recall, PAYGO was agreed to in the 1990s by then-Speaker Newt Gingrich and signed into law by President Clinton. In the mid-1990s, that led to the first budget surpluses we had in over 40 years. Ladies and gentlemen, let me remind you, over the last 5 years, we have gone from surpluses to massive deficits.

I remember as a young kid watching television on ``Dragnet.'' Remember Sergeant Friday? He used to say ``Just the facts, ma'am.'' These are the facts, and I think Americans are coming to realize these facts do not hold up to the principles of sound fiscal management. We can do better. We should do better. Americans deserve it.

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