Despite being strengthened in severalimportant ways, the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) cannot recommend support forthe most recent version of the Budget Control Act of 2011 because it does notgive sufficient impetus to enact the most important principle of the “Cut, Cap,and Balance” coalition, one that NTU and its members have sought for some 40years: a Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) to our Constitution.
We commend House Speaker JohnBoehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for their tirelesswork in pursuit of greater and more enforceable spending restraint. Theinclusion of $900 billion in program reductions subject to immediate sequestrationand the new “trigger” mechanism which affects both defense and Medicareexpenditures will provide strong incentives, rather than vague directives, forCongress to live up to the total claim of $2.4 trillion in deficit reduction.
Unfortunately, this bill has alsobeen weakened in one extremely important way since a version of it passed theHouse of Representatives: it no longer requires passage of a BalancedBudget Amendment in order to unlock the second tranche of debt ceilingincrease. It does establish the BBA as a “fallback” option should thelegislation’s new joint committee for deficit reduction fail, but that isregrettably not an adequate consolation for proponents of fundamental,structural budget reforms since such a vote could easily be avoided.
Furthermore, the joint selectcommittee the legislation establishes still suffers from the flaw of allowingfor tax increases in the future. Proponents of the bill claim that use of theCongressional Budget Office’s current law baseline will make tax increasesdifficult or impossible, but that applies largely to alterations of marginalincome tax rates. Nothing stops the committee from recommending the eliminationor reduction of credits, exemptions, or deductions in a way that would raisehundreds of billions in new revenue to fund Washington’s spending. Overburdenedtaxpayers may be forgiven for their concern that a united push for such taxincreases (as opposed to natural revenue growth from tax reform) could overcomeopposition on the committee or from Republicans.
Because it does not adequately providefor actual passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment and still holdspotential for tax increases, NTU cannot support the Budget Control Act. A “NO”vote will be considered the pro-taxpayer position in our annual Rating ofCongress.
If you have any questions, please contact NTU Vice President of Government Affairs Andrew Moylan at(703) 683-5700