I voted Yes on H.Con.Res. 27, which establishes the budget for the U.S. Government for fiscal year 2016 and setting forth budgetary levels for fiscal years 2017 through 2025.
Budget resolutions are starting points which set blueprints for federal spending levels and policies for future fiscal years. Passage of a budget resolution begins the annual appropriations process though which federal programs are funded. This process allows for debate in both chambers of Congress about spending priorities with significant room for negotiation and compromise.
I could not support the version of the budget originally reported from the House Budget Committee because it called for impractical and potentially dangerous tradeoffs between adequately funding our military and domestic priorities. However the final House budget resolution, while not perfect, takes serious steps to control our debt and make our economy more competitive while preserving our national security.
We have a major debt problem. Our national debt is now more than $18 trillion, which I consider immoral because, if left unchecked, it leads to the most regressive tax there is: passing the burden on to our children. Right now, public debt as a share of GDP is nearly 75 percent, and as more baby boomers retire, this share of debt will increase so much that interest payments on our debt alone will cost more than $5 trillion over the next decade. These payments will crowd out other very important priorities in the budget, and they hit home because the payments could lead to more than $300 in related taxes for the average New Yorker.
This budget reaches balance within 10 years by spending $5.5 trillion less over that period than our current trajectory and suggesting policies to grow a stronger economy and create jobs.
For example, the budget calls for comprehensive tax reform to simplify the code, close individual and corporate loopholes, and lower rates for families and American businesses. It also recommends more American energy development, which would lead to real jobs, greater energy security, and lower electricity prices. The budget also provides for a much-needed long term highway and infrastructure bill that does not increase the deficit. I'm pleased the budget also calls for regulatory reform to cut back on needless red tape that stifles small businesses, such as requiring cost-effective approaches to regulation when needed and applying a more open and transparent process when designing new regulations.
The budget provides robust funding for our military abroad and at home here in upstate New York at facilities like Rome Lab, DFAS, Fort Drum and the 174th Attack Wing in Syracuse. Funding for veterans' programs and benefits would also be provided, and the budget calls for stringent oversight over the Department of Veterans Affairs so that we do not experience the sort of negligence that has been revealed at some VA health facilities ever again. New York veterans who have served our nation deserve no less for their sacrifices.
Medicare - a vitally important program for seniors in upstate New York - will be broke in just 15 years if we do not begin to take steps to strengthen the program. This budget proposes to lower Medicare health care costs through medical liability reform and means-testing so that high-income seniors would pay a higher share of their premiums. The proposal would also, beginning in 2024, offer new enrollees in the program a choice between a "premium-support" program under which Medicare would offer a choice of private plans or the traditional "fee-for-service" Medicare with which we are familiar today. Under the premium support option, Medicare would provide a payment to help pay for, or completely offset, the price of the plan chosen. Higher premium support would be given to individuals who have more illnesses or lower incomes. While I have some concerns over this aspect of the plan, it is important to begin a serious dialogue about how best to preserve the promise of Medicare.
Social Security is another incredibly important program for older New Yorkers, but it is on a more solid financial footing than Medicare. This budget proposes no structural changes to Social Security, but rather calls on Congress and the President to work in a bipartisan fashion to make Social Security solvent over the long-term.
Put simply, to budget is to govern. I am hopeful that by advancing this budget we can reach consensus with the Senate on a path forward to keep our government open and functional while taking steps to reduce the debt and create jobs.