Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - April 14, 2008)

By Mr. CORNYN:

S. 2852. A bill to provide increased accessibility to information on Federal spending, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, throughout my career, I have been working on the front lines of the battle for greater transparency and openness in our Government because I fundamentally believe the more the American people and my constituents in Texas understand about the Government and how it operates, the better accountability can take place, and people will once again feel they are in charge, which is absolutely the case. Knowledge is power, and transparency permits the accountability necessary for our system to work.

Just a few months ago, Senator Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and I were successful in getting a bill signed which modernized and greatly improved our Freedom of Information laws for the first time in many years. Now it is my intent to try to accomplish that same thing with the Federal spending, and that is why today I am introducing the Federal Spending and Taxpayer Accessibility Act of 2008.

The first thing this bill would do would be to create an online earmark tracking system that taxpayers can use free of charge to search for specific earmarks by recipient, by appropriations bill, by State, and by Member, and to do so in a real-time frame of reference during the appropriations process.

Of course, earmarks are especially designated appropriations for particular projects in particular locations. There is a lot of controversy about earmarks, but I think greater transparency would limit the number of earmarks introduced because were they to be completely transparent, it would discourage the use of earmarks and make certain only meritorious ones are accepted by the Congress as part of the appropriations process.

Secondly, my legislation would direct the Internal Revenue Service to provide each taxpayer with a concise, easy-to-read personal record of the amount of taxes they have already paid and an estimate of the amount of taxes they will pay in the timeframe before they retire.

As you know, the Social Security Administration currently already mails out a similar statement, called a Social Security account statement, which gives taxpayers a record of the earnings on which they have paid Social Security taxes and a summary of their estimated future benefits. So this taxpayer account statement would be sort of the mirror image of the Social Security statement, and it would let people know how much taxes they have paid and what their tax obligation would likely be into the future.

I think this tax statement could play an important role when taxpayers are planning their future finances and provide them with a better idea of how much in taxes they will pay in the future.

It will also have the added benefit of making them much more aware of what Washington is doing when it comes to their hard-earned money and the money they send to Washington to pay the bills.

Finally, this legislation builds upon the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 that created a one-stop, searchable Web site for all Federal contracts and grants. My legislation would expand on this Web site by including all expenditures of all Federal agencies, such as salaries, rent, supplies, and transportation.

As this chart shows, taxpayers will have to work 74 days during the year just to pay their Federal taxes without getting one red cent for themselves. Additionally, local taxes and State taxes account for an additional 39 days of work, and that is before they begin to work to pay their own bills, their other bills. For housing, it is roughly 60 days out of the year; health insurance, 50 days out of the year; food, 35; and transportation, 29 days out of the year. So these living essentials are being squeezed by the Federal tax burden, and I think it is important for people to understand that. Frankly, once they do, I think their voices are then much more likely to be heard when loose talk in Washington occurs about raising taxes.

I was interested to hear our colleague from Oregon, Senator Wyden, talk about the alternative minimum tax. That is a perfect case study of why, when people talk about taxing the rich, really what they are talking about is taxing people who earn a living. That was a classic case where the alternative minimum tax was passed to target 155 taxpayers who did not otherwise pay Federal income tax because of their deductions, due to State and local taxes. Well, no surprise those 155 targeted taxpayers grew last year to 6 million taxpayers, and this year it would have grown to 23 million middle-class taxpayers because it had not been indexed. Once again, taxing the rich turns into taxing the middle class.

Well, I think greater transparency in the process would allow the middle class to tell Washington: Wait a minute, you need to cut out some of the waste and inefficiency of Government before you come back to me and ask me for more of what I earn, which I need to spend on housing, health insurance, food, transportation, or whatever else I see fit.

I think it is about time for taxpayers to see where their money is going, and it is in this spirit I am introducing this Federal Spending and Taxpayer Accessibility Act of 2008. I think it answers the fundamental question: Should the people who foot the bill for the Federal Government know what it is they are getting?

Never would you ask a person to make an investment without giving them the ability to monitor that investment. But when it comes to taxes, that is precisely what we are asking. It is time for us to open up the process of Federal spending to the public and let the American people see where their money is going. That way they can hold their elected officials accountable and play a closer role in the determination of where we spend their hard-earned money.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.

There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be placed in the RECORD, as follows:

S. 2852

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