I’ve got another important budget update for you this week. I say important for a couple of reasons. First off, drafting a budget forces the authors to think through the big picture, address the full scope of challenges and opportunities, and to design a path forward. In our particular case, it also provides our bosses – the American people – with the opportunity to review our work and our priorities.
Each year, we’ve done this in the House. And each year, the various groups within Congress put forward their own version. The House GOP puts forward a budget, as do the House Democrats (which bascially represents the President’s budget). Then there is a budget from the conservatives and a budget from the liberals and also, traditionally, a separate budget proposal from the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC).
All of this is available online, so I’ll just give you the topline figures and a couple of notes on each.
The House GOP Budget:
Does not raise taxes at all. Reduces spending by $5.1 trillion. And if implemented in its entirety, would result in a balanced budget inside ten years.
Among other things, the budget calls for repealing Obamacare, scrapping our current 74,000 page tax code, and reforming Medicare for future seniors to ensure that it remains a viable program for those future seniors. It also restores funding for a military to a safe level.
The President’s Budget:
Raises taxes by $1.8 trillion. Increases spending by $791 billion. Reduces the deficit some over current law, but never achieves balance. I will say that it does also call for the minimum amount necessary for the military to remain at a safe level.
The CBC Budget:
Raises taxes by $2.3 trillion. Increases spending by $1.6 trillion. And while it also reduces the deficit over current law because of the extra taxes, it never creates a way to achieve a balanced budget.
The Progressive Caucus Budget:
(Drumroll please – this is always exciting) The progressive budget calls for us to raise taxes by an absolutely mind-boggling $6.6 trillion over the next decade. I want to emphasize that’s how much they would like to increases taxes by – not the total amount they’d like to collect.
The Progressive Budget would also increase spending above current levels by another $3.3 trillion. And despite tax increases worth almost two times the size of Germany’s entire economy, their proposal would never, ever, ever result in us balancing our budget.
The Conservative Budget:
It would balance the budget within four years, but it does so in large part because of kicking in changes to Social Security and Medicare almost immediately. I applaud them for finding the absolute quickest path possible to balance, but I have been adamant that people who are already in or nearing retirement should be able to count on the exact set of benefits that they spent their entire careers planning for. It’s not possible for them to go back and re-save and re-plan. That’s a dealbreaker for me, but I do applaud the goal of bringing down the deficit as quickly as possible.
It’s worth noting that in just the last four years that I’ve been up here, we’ve seen the deficit come down by two-thirds. That’s no small feat. With the economy continuing to get stronger and some modest reforms implemented, we can put this county on a much stronger footing for the next century.
In the final analysis, I judge our work not just on what it means for hard-working Americans today, but on what kind of nation we will leave for our grandkids. For two centuries now, our ancestors have made sacrifices to ensure that they left their kids a country that was stronger than the one they inherited. That is our legacy and it is up to us to shape it.
On Thursday, before I left Washington, I attended a funeral at Arlington National Cemetery for one of our local veterans. At 68, he passed long before his time. But what struck me is that from a very young age, serving in Vietnam and ultimately earning the Purple Heart, this man chose to continue dedicating himself to others. For three full decades after he left the Army, this proud veteran spent his life in classrooms teaching generation after generation of young men and women. There are few professions I respect more than those who choose to teach. For someone to serve in any capacity is commendable. For one to dedicate his entire adult life to the betterment of others, that is truly something we should honor and revere.
America didn’t become the strong, proud nation that it is all on its own. It took the combined will of generations of Americans who were willing to stand up and be counted. To keep it strong, we need to continue in that tradition. For those of us serving in Congress this week, that meant putting forward an honest budget proposal. I certainly don’t agree with all of them, but I commend all of my colleagues for stepping up to the plate and being honest about where their priorities lie. This process is important and it’s one that I would encourage every American to take some pride an ownership in. It’s not always pleasant, but it is one of the most important things we can do for future generations.
Congressman Rich Nugent represents The VIllages in the U.S. House of Representatives.
