Hearing of the
Subcommittee on Legislative and Budget Process
on Biennial Budgeting
I want to thank Chairman Pryce and the other members of the Subcommittee on Legislative and Budget Process for holding this hearing on biennial budgeting. I am happy to see attention being given to this important issue and appreciate the opportunity to testify here today. Since the Republicans have taken the majority, I have been a strong supporter of budget process reform. I believe budget process reform is an essential key to reaching and maintaining a balanced budget.
Passage of meaningful process reform would leave its mark on this Nation for generations to come. In fact, I introduced budget process reform legislation in the last Congress. I included biennial budgeting for the federal government as one of the main points in my bill.
The American people are sick and tired, like I am, of the same old budget story coming out of Washington at the end of every year. The process in which we fund our government has become one big staring contest. Each year, hot political issues and scare tactics are used to hold up and stall the federal budget process so that at the end of the year some can attempt to cater the final budget numbers to be most appealing to their constituencies, regardless of whether or not the spending direction and levels are good for the country as a whole. This political game must be ended and sanity must be brought back to the federal budgeting process.
So the question becomes can biennial budgeting bring sanity back to the budgeting process? Well, while I think other reforms are also needed to bring us the type of efficient and honest budgetary process we need, I am convinced that enacting biennial budgeting, such as what is called for in H.R. 981, would be a tremendously sound step in the right direction.
There are many sound arguments as to why and how biennial budgeting would help make the federal budgeting process more reliable and sensible. First of all, budgeting for a two-year cycle would force Congress to be more careful in their spending habits and encourage Members to be more responsible in the amounts and directions in which they allocate taxpayer dollars. Far too often, pet projects for a certain party are added onto annual appropriation bills at the last minute, usually without the proper scrutiny of Congress. With one budget process every two years, the opportunities for that kind of spending would be cut nearly in half.
Federal agencies would also be more efficient and cautious in how they use their funds because of the length and stability of their funding over a two-year cycle. In addition, Congress would be able to exercise better oversight over these government agencies and programs to ensure that the financial commitment involved is sound fiscal policy for the country to undertake.
However, the most important aspect of biennial budgeting in my opinion is not what enacting it would do for Congress, but rather what it would allow Congress to accomplish. Each year, both parties state the many goals and accomplishments they hope to pass in order to improve the life of the American people. And each year, achieving these goals are becoming more and more difficult because of the time that is required to be spent on the annual appropriations process. Imagine how productive Congress could be if instead of having to deliberate over every dollar the government will see that given year, we could commit more time to the different issues that most of us came here to work toward. I want to spend more time helping small business and small communities by cutting taxes and wasteful spending in our government and pushing for legislative proposals that give more freedom for the American people to work toward a better tomorrow. I think every Member would tell you that he or she would like to have more time and resources to pursue the types of issues that they were all sent to Congress for in the first place. Biennial budgeting can help to make that happen.
Biennial budgeting is simply one of the reforms I would like to see happen to the federal budget process. However, I think it is one of the most vital. It is time for Congress to free up this process and allow this body to stand for more than annual appropriations battles. It is time for us to start spending our time and the American taxpayers' dime more wisely.
Again, I thank you for the opportunity to testify here today and stand ready to help in any way in future budget process reform considerations.
