Hearing of the House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government - Department of Treasury FY 2014 Budget Hearing

Hearing

Thank you, Chairman Crenshaw, for yielding, and thank you, Secretary Lew, for joining us today, your second such hearing in two days. I congratulate you on your new post.

Forgive me for feeling as though I am living through "Groundhog Day," but each year in this hearing the Subcommittee points out just how unsustainable our nation's fiscal situation has become, and each year this Administration has allowed it to get worse through inaction. Mr. Secretary, as you know, the debt is now over $16 trillion, continuing to add $1 trillion each year of the Obama presidency.

While we have a new Subcommittee Chair, a new, albeit late Budget Request, and even a new Secretary of Treasury; we are back to where we started -- accounting gimmicks, funny math, no real solutions for getting our fiscal house in order, and our nation's debt, making us less competitive and less secure, ticking upward.

As these fiscal issues continue to mount, the American people expect leadership from the President. Unfortunately, they will be left wanting. Last year, the President argued then that his FY13 Budget Request would have reduced deficits by $4 trillion in a decade. In fact, CBO indicated it would add $3.5 trillion in cumulative deficits over baseline projections and result in $8.7 trillion in additional debt over the next ten years. This is moving backwards not forward, Mr. Secretary.

Unfortunately, FY14 is more of the same, only this time -- with the budget two and a half months late -- the CBO hasn't had time to score it ahead of this hearing. While the President is making every effort to blame sequestration on the Congress, he is happy to claim the $1.2 trillion in projected savings over ten years within his Budget's deficit reduction figures. But, when you dive into his spending recommendations, he ignores sequestration, asking for increases across most discretionary accounts and leaving the true intent of his budget proposal clear: over $600 billion in additional new taxes in a year when your Department will take in more tax dollars than any other year in American history.

Speaking of your Department, the FY14 Treasury request is $16 billion, which is a $1 billion increase over FY13 CR without taking into account sequestration. The vast majority of the increase, as it has been in recent years, is for the IRS for tax enforcement, primarily associated with the implementation of Obamacare, but also likely for enforcing the President's proposed tax hikes -- increases this Subcommittee has zeroed out in the past.

I look forward to your testimony. With that, thank you and I yield back.

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