Senate Budget Committee Chairman Gregg Introduces Budget Reform Plan
"S.O.S." Bill Will Address Over-Spending
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg, joined by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and 19 other co-sponsors, today introduced a comprehensive budget reform plan entitled The Stop Over-Spending Act of 2006, or "S.O.S." (S. 3521) designed to contain out-of-control federal spending and restore discipline to the budget process.
"The goal of this package is to allow us as a Congress to step up and address overspending," said Chairman Gregg on the Senate floor. "The purpose also is to pass on to our children and grandchildren a government that is affordable and offers high-quality services, so that their quality of life is not compromised. We cannot solve our fiscal problems - the issue of the deficit and the entitlement obligations - on the tax side. We need to be willing to step up and address spending. The S.O.S. bill will lead to a government that is effective and affordable."
Provisions of the S.O.S. Act include:
It creates a line-item veto tool that allows a President to target wasteful spending, ask that it be rescinded, and send it up to Congress for expedited consideration. It creates a new and improved Gramm-Rudmanesque mechanism to essentially balance the budget by 2012 - procedures to automatically slow the rate of growth for mandatory programs if Congress fails to meet deficit reduction targets. It reinstates statutory caps on discretionary spending (and the use of all-too-convenient and
burgeoning "emergency" spending), enforceable by an across the board sequester, if Congress fails to adhere to the caps.
It creates a point of order against direct spending that is triggered when the Medicare program is projected to become insolvent in 7 years or less. Due to skyrocketing health care costs and an aging population, Medicare is projected to be the first of the large entitlement programs to become insolvent.
It creates two new bi-partisan commissions: one to study the accountability and efficiency of government programs (in a manner similar to the BRAC Commission), and the other to examine and provide solutions to the impending entitlement crisis.
It strengthens and improves the Budget Resolution and Reconciliation processes. The bill is co-sponsored by Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) and Senators Wayne Allard (R-CO), Jim Bunning (R-KY), Michael Enzi (R-WY), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Mike
Crapo (R-ID), John Ensign (R-NV), John Cornyn (R-TX), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Larry Craig (R-ID), Jim DeMint (R-SC), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), John McCain
(R-AZ), Craig Thomas (R-WY), John Thune (R-SD) and David Vitter (R-LA). More details on the S.O.S. budget reform package can be found at http://budget.senate.gov/republican.
http://budget.senate.gov/republican/pressarchive/2006-06-15SOSbillintro.pr.pdf