Budget Process, Fiscal Year 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. WOMACK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to encourage all of us to stay committed to reforming the Federal budget and appropriations process.

Here we are, operating under a continuing resolution and scrambling to adopt another, our third of fiscal year 2019 alone. Despite good work being done to fund 5 of the 12 annual appropriations bills, after 2\1/2\ months and two continuing resolutions, our work remains unfinished.

Mr. Speaker, the power of the purse is the most important constitutional responsibility granted to Congress, yet we have regularly and repeatedly ceded our duty to fulfill this essential role. It is unacceptable, and it is clear that the Federal budget and appropriations process is broken. The American people deserve better.

As you know, the Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform laid the groundwork for bipartisan, bicameral reform this past year. Our proposal began taking steps in the right direction to improve the process. While our efforts were unsuccessful, where we stand today highlights just how desperately our work was needed. It, Mr. Speaker, is now more necessary than ever.

I will continue to champion budget process reform and the ideas put forth by the joint select committee next year. Today, I sent a Dear Colleague letter outlining our year of work, which I include in the Record.

I encourage all Members to review it and join me in this essential effort. We owe the American people this process. Let's fix this.

Dear Colleague: In the Second Session of the 115th Congress, I was honored to Co-Chair the Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform. As members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Article I entrusts in each of us the power of the purse. This is an awesome responsibility that I, and I know each of you, take very seriously. We owe it to the American people to have a process that works, and that was the goal of the Joint Select Committee--to produce recommendations to reform the federal budget and appropriations process.

As you know, our Joint Select Committee produced a bipartisan, bicameral consensus package of reforms in advance of our statutory deadline of November 30, 2018. During our markup, amendments were subjected to a supermajority threshold to ensure those that passed reflected a true consensus of the panel. Some amendments passed unanimously. However, the bill and report developed over many months of hard work failed to secure the necessary supermajority of votes to pass under our Joint Select Committee's rules.

Despite the unfortunate outcome of the Joint Select Committee's work, there is no refuting that the federal budget process is broken. It is vital that Congress continues these efforts to reform the budget and appropriations process this year, next year, and in the years beyond. I have assembled in this Budget Committee print all the relevant materials to this year's work. I urge all Members to review this information. In this Committee print, you will find:

The report of the Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform;

The Co-chair's mark, as amended, and voted on, by the Joint Select Committee;

The votes of the Joint Select Committee;

Hearing transcripts of the Joint Select Committee's five public hearings; Congressional Budget Office briefing materials prepared for the Joint Select Committee;

Congressional Research Service briefing materials prepared for the Joint Select Committee;

H.R. 7191--a bill introduced in the House by myself and Representative Yarmuth, a Joint Select Committee Member and Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee; and

The press release to accompany the introduction of H.R. 7191.

It is my sincere hope that this important work will continue in the 116th Congress on a bipartisan and bicameral basis. I believe Members of Congress, Executive Branch officials, outside budget experts and academics, as well as engaged citizens, will find this material useful for future reform efforts.

I would like to thank the Members of the Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform, our hardworking staffs, particularly Dan Keniry, David Reich, and Mary Popadiuk, as well as the House Rules Committee staff, Bob Weinhagen and Tom Cassidy in the Office of Legislative Counsel, budget experts at the Congressional Research Service and the Congressional Budget Office--particularly Mark Hadley and Teri Gullo--and House Parliamentarian Tom Wickham and his office, for the year of dedication.

If you have any questions or would like additional information, please contact Dan Keniry, Staff Director of the House Budget Committee or Mary Popadiuk, General Counsel of the House Budget Committee. Steve Womack, Chairman, Committee on the Budget.

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