H.R. 3582--Pro-Growth Budgeting Act and H.R. 3578--Baseline Reform Act
Floor Speech
Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to both H.R. 3582 and H.R. 3578. These misguided bills make it easier for Congress to pass budgets that give wealthy individuals unaffordable tax breaks while devastating America's communities with cuts to schools, hospitals and road and bridge repairs.
H.R. 3582, the Pro Growth Budgeting Act, requires the Congressional Budget Office, CBO, to use ``dynamic scoring'' as part of a macroeconomic impact analysis of tax provisions. This new method is based on the false premise that tax cuts pay for themselves, which would hide the true costs of passing even more tax cuts for America's wealthiest individuals.
H.R. 3578, the Baseline Reform Act, mandates a fundamental change in how CBO forecasts future discretionary spending in its baseline, requiring CBO to unrealistically assume that spending in the future will stay the same and not keep pace with inflation. Over the long-term, this could result in a substantial decrease in vital government services that niillions of Americans rely on.
Both of these bills present a distorted picture of the federal budget outlook. H.R. 3582 and H.R. 3578 will fail to create jobs, reduce the national deficit, or put the country on a fiscally sustainable path. By bringing these bills to the floor, the House Republican Majority is once again failing to focus on the most pressing need of our constituents: growing the economy and creating jobs.
It is time to leave behind the failed Republican economic policies of the last decade. The Great Recession proved that deregulation and tax cuts for the wealthy at a time when America is fighting two wars destroys jobs and produces enormous deficits. Republicans and Democrats need to come together around a new agenda that makes strategic investments in our country. We can start with President Obama's American Jobs Act, which would put more than 1 million Americans back to work, according to independent economists. By working together, we can build a stronger, more competitive economy for the 21st century.
I urge my colleagues to oppose them.
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