Political Hay

Don't Blame the House

By Peter Ferrara on 7.27.11 @ 6:09AM

The indisputable facts show that Congressional Republicans have done their job. Months ago, the House Republican majority passed the budget proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI). Ryan's budget provided for $6.2 trillion in spending cuts for its first 10 years alone. Over the long run, it drives federal spending to 15% of GDP, well below the postwar historical average of 20%.

Ryan's budget included tax reform to get the economy booming again, with a 25% top income-tax rate for incomes over $100,000 a year, and a 10% rate for incomes below that. The internationally uncompetitive federal corporate tax rate of 35% would be reduced to 25%, which would return federal taxes to their long term, postwar, historical average of 18% of GDP. Because that figure is higher than our spending, the Ryan budget eventually pays off the national debt entirely.

Yes, that takes decades. $14 trillion is a big debt to pay. It takes that long because the careful reforms are designed so that no one is actually hurt by the changes -- senseless Democratic rhetoric to the contrary notwithstanding. The Democrats just don't like it because by reducing government dependency it threatens their political machine.

Moreover, the first act of the new GOP House majority was to vote to repeal Obamacare. That means $1 trillion in spending cuts, and $500 billion in tax cuts, during the first 10 years alone, as scored by CBO.

Cut, Cap and Balance

Last week the Republican-controlled House passed the Cut, Cap and Balance Act of 2011. It cuts government spending for fiscal year 2012 (which starts on October 1, 2011) by $111 billion. Despite http://cdn.apture.com/media/imgs/crsr/socialLink.cur), default; text-decoration: none; cssfloat: none; border-width: 0px; padding: 0px;"> President Obama's unreasoned, reality-free rhetoric, it includes no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Veterans benefits.

The Act then places a cap on total federal spending that would reduce it to the long run, postwar, historical average of 20% of GDP by 2017.

The Act then provides for President Obama's requested increase in the debt limit, if Congress first passes a specified Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution and sends it to the states for ratification. That Amendment would require Congress to balance the budget every year except in a wartime emergency, meaning that the federal government would have no legal authority for increased borrowing except under the wartime procedures specified in the Amendment.

That Balanced Budget Amendment would also include a supermajority requirement to raise taxes, so no tax increase could be enacted without a vote of 67% in favor in each house. The Constitutional Amendment also specifies a cap on federal spending equal to 19.9% of GDP, limiting federal spending to the long-term average for the past 70 years.

This Act solves the federal government's runaway spending, deficit and debt problem, entirely.

This Act passed the House with bipartisan support.

Democrat No-Shows

In sharp contrast, the United States Senate, controlled since 2007 by Democrats, actually tabled Cut, Cap and Balance without allowing it to even come to a vote.

For two years now, the Democrat-controlled Senate has refused to adopt a budget, as required by law, or to even pass the necessary appropriations bills to fund the government. That is why we faced the government shutdown crisis in the spring. And if the Senate majority does not show up to do their job by September 30, the federal government will face another shutdown crisis this fall.

Read the rest of the article here:  http://spectator.org/archives/2011/07/27/dont-blame-the-house#