Op-Ed: No Budget, No Problem?

Op-Ed

Op-Ed: No Budget, No Problem?

Every two years the Wyoming Legislature adopts a new budget. If the Legislature decided not to adopt a budget this year because the economy made budget decision-making too tough, Wyoming voters would be justifiable incensed. Yet this is precisely what is being discussed in Washington.

When asked about reports that the U.S. House of Representatives would forgo the annual budget resolution, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer responded: "It is difficult to pass budgets in election years because, you know, they reflect what is the status. And the status of this country was brought into deep debt by the economic policies of the Bush administration."

No one denies that past Congresses and Administrations were guilty of overspending.

But President Obama, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Leader Reid last year produced appropriations bills and a stimulus bill that have led to an 84% increase in non-defense discretionary spending over two years. President Obama's inaugural budget adopted last year doubles the national debt in five years and triples it in ten years. The notion that Bush-era policies somehow exempt the current Democratic Leadership from budget responsibilities is not just a tired argument -- it is a false and dangerous one.

Moreover, not considering a budget resolution sets a dangerous precedent. If the House this year fails to craft a budget, it will be the first time since the enactment of the 1974 Budget Act. The purpose of the budget process is to create enforceable parameters within which Congress can consider legislation dealing with spending and revenue. In the absence of a budget, there would be virtually no procedural enforcement mechanism to constrain spending in either the House or the Senate.

The longer Congress waits to deal with our fiscal imbalance, the more difficult the choices become. Medicare and Social Security insolvency, an unsustainable Medicaid program, unchecked pork barrel spending and debt levels that would make even some European nations blush are not problems that will fix themselves.

I have joined 72 of my colleagues in asking Speaker Pelosi to bring a budget resolution to the House floor for passage this year. The American people, who at the very least need to know where their elected officials stand on these issues deserve nothing less.

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