The Honorable Patrick McHenry
United States House of Representatives
224 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representative McHenry:
On behalf of the 350,000 members of the National Taxpayers Union (NTU), I write to offer our support for H.R. 489, the Commission on Reforming Entitlement Spending Act (CORE Spending Act). The long-term federal budget outlook remains bleak and this bill will advance the debate on repairing our nation's broken entitlement programs. The time has come to fundamentally restructure our entitlement system so that it can remain solvent into the future.
This bill is important because it would prevent any tax increase from being considered as a part of the solution. The old formula of raising taxes, while avoiding issues such as spending growth and personal retirement saving incentives, has proven to be a failure time and again.
The CORE Spending Act would establish a 15-member commission to study the issue and produce legislation that would reform our entitlement programs. It would contain the aforementioned limitation, which would prevent any tax increase from being included in the final legislation. That bill would then enjoy so-called fast track status, by requiring Congress to have an up-or-down vote within 60 days of its introduction.
This proactive bill would be an important tool in advancing the debate about entitlement programs while protecting taxpayers from harmful tax hikes. Increases in payroll taxes will slow the economy and ultimately fail to produce the revenues that could help to close the gap between the federal government's promises and the means to keep them. We need innovative solutions to put the nation's finances back on solid ground. The CORE Spending Act provides a mechanism for producing just such solutions.
We are glad to support H.R. 489 and look forward to working with you in the future to reform entitlement spending and return fiscal discipline to the budget.
Sincerely,
Andrew Moylan
Government Affairs Manager