(Alexandria, VA) - The five-year spending and revenue plan that Congress enacted yesterday doesn't mark the end of the world that special interests are predicting, but rather the beginning of a long road to more responsible spending: that's the assessment of the 350,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU), which expressed kudos as well as concerns over the Budget Resolution.
"Compared to the previous Congress, which couldn't even produce a spending plan, the current five-year budget blueprint at least provides a modest framework to begin the monumental task of restraining federal spending," said NTU Senior Policy Analyst Demian Brady. "However, many more concrete budget savings proposals will be necessary in the coming months to build a truly lasting foundation for deficit reduction." According to Brady's research:
- The Resolution is the first since the Reagan Administration to reduce non-defense discretionary spending, and the first in seven years to slow the growth of entitlement spending - by a mere one-tenth of one percent over a five-year period. The Resolution requires Congressional committees to examine programs within their jurisdiction for savings; however, no specifics are mentioned.
- The savings in the Budget Resolution are designed not to "cut" Medicaid, but rather to restrain the growth of this out-of-control program. Medicaid is projected to spend $1.1 trillion over the next five years; the Resolution's proposed $10 billion in savings amount to one percent of total Medicaid outlays. Over the past 15 years, Medicaid program outlays grew more than any other area of federal entitlement spending. The Resolution delays enactment of the savings until 2007 - thus decreasing the political odds that they will be maintained.
- This is the first Budget Resolution passed in three years. While passage does not guarantee that Congress will avoid a pork-laden "omnibus" bill at the end of the year, it is a hopeful indication that lawmakers will restrain themselves from exceeding the totals in the Resolution and will consider each of the 13 appropriations bills separately.
- President Bush asked Congress to find $4.5 billion in total savings from agriculture spending over five years; the Resolution includes $3 billion in savings instead. Agriculture spending has risen 16.2 percent since 2001, and by 343 percent since the 1996 Freedom to Farm Act.
- The Budget Resolution assumes $50 billion in extra spending next year (FY 2006) for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is a more honest accounting of the war costs than leaving them out of the budget picture and funding them through emergency legislation.
- The Resolution includes enough relief ($106 billion) to prevent a tax increase resulting from the expiration of several tax cuts enacted since 2001. This amounts to just 0.85 percent of total expected federal revenues over the next five years.
NTU is a non-partisan citizen group working for lower taxes, smaller government, and more accountability from elected officials. Note: Additional commentaries on federal spending proposals, including a February 7 analysis of President Bush's budget, are available at www.ntu.org.