A Balanced Budget

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, for years, the Democrat-led Senate refused to pass a balanced budget. It usually failed to produce any budget at all. Maybe this made the special interests happy, but it was infuriating for many in the middle class. These Americans called for change.

Today, a Senate under new management is delivering that change. The new Senate is prepared to pass a balanced budget with ideas that could boost jobs, raise annual wages by as much as $5,000 per family, and drive economic growth for hard-working Americans. That is what the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office tells us, and it is no wonder.

This balanced budget would embrace the energy revolution and allow for more environmentally responsible innovations. It would repeal unfair taxes such as those in ObamaCare and set the table for more comprehensive replacement of the outdated Tax Code with one that is simpler and more effective. And it would provide tools finally to repeal and replace ObamaCare itself, leaving the law's higher costs and broken promises where they belong--in the past--in favor of a fresh start and the opportunity for real health reform.

So while this balanced budget might upset special interests, that is OK, because it is focused on the middle class instead. It is focused on helping the most vulnerable too.

Here is what we know about important programs such as Medicare. We can make commonsense improvements to save these programs today or we can allow draconian cuts to fall on the most vulnerable in the years ahead. These are essentially our only two options. We can't tax the problem away. Denying the facts won't help either.

So we invite all of our friends to join us as positive reformers, not insensitive deniers. Let's work together to improve Medicaid as this balanced budget proposes. While our balanced budget cannot solve every challenge, it will move us further down the path of positive reform. It will make government more efficient, more effective, and more accountable to the middle class.

The budget also contains a good-faith compromise to begin the legislative process for the Defense authorization bill we will consider later this year, when additional OCO funds can be prudently reallocated against the actual procurement and modernization needs of our military, if only for the coming fiscal year. This is the best strategy, short of revising the BCA, for keeping faith with our armed services, and it is the best option we currently have for leaving the next President in a better position to face global challenges.

So I wish to thank Chairman Enzi for all of his good work in putting this balanced budget together. It certainly wasn't easy. It is a good balanced budget that everyone should want to support.

That is especially true when we compare it to the other alternatives here. It is the only alternative, actually, since our friends still don't seem to be in the habit of producing a budget of their own.

The alternative on offer was the budget we voted on Tuesday from President Obama. Someone called it the left's dream budget. But that dream ended up being so unserious and embarrassing that not more than a single Democrat could muster the courage to vote for it. In a way, it is hard to blame our friends. It would be pretty embarrassing and insensitive to support a budget that contains trillions more in overspending, almost $2 trillion more in taxes, and hardly any serious ideas to save the programs for the most vulnerable.

No wonder this budget went down in flames 98 to 1--98 to 1. That was the vote on the President's budget. That 98, by the way, was against the President's budget.

So only one budget remains. It is a balanced budget that will focus on growth, common sense, and the middle class. It isn't perfect, but it does represent honest compromise and the promise of a better tomorrow.

If Senators would prefer to amend it, they will have that opportunity this evening. Members of both parties will be able to offer amendments. I know many of our friends across the aisle are eager to do that. Republicans will have their chance too. There is a lot we expect to consider.

For instance, do Senators want to be seen supporting a policy that costs up to a million jobs or will they stand tall for American jobs instead? Will Senators support more tired tax hikes or will they support the jobs those higher taxes threaten to destroy? And do Senators want to raise the cost of energy or do they want to see the American people reap benefits of our energy revolution?

So tonight, the American people will have their voices heard again in the Senate under new management. They will see a new Congress that is back to work again and on their behalf. After considering all of these amendments, we will take a vote. When the budget passes, we will conference with the House. That is how this process has worked historically. It is what the American people have a right to expect now, and that is what we hope to see again shortly.

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