Honest Budget Act

I say enough is enough. That's why I introduced the Honest Budget Act, H.R. 3414.

The Honest Budget Act fixes nine of Washington’s worst fiscal practices, "gimmicks" that have cost us $357 billion since 2005. Each of these nine fixes will halt those practices by using a common sense, realistic approach to budgeting:

• The Honest Budget Act will make it harder for Congress to pass spending bills unless a budget for the year is already in place - meaning the Senate won’t get another reckless 900-day spending spree without passing the budget that would rein them in;
• It tightens the process for calling bills “emergency” spending, eliminating the often-abused way Congress uses to avoid following a budget;
• It measures the cost of loan and loan guarantee programs that reflects the loans’ fair value;
• Adopts a rule preventing counting repeals of future spending as savings unless they produce actual savings in the current budget;
• Prevent cuts in required spending programs from being counted as savings in new - and voluntary -spending;
• Prohibit shifting timelines to produce phony budget savings in multiple budget years;
• Actually freezes federal pay by eliminating automatic pay increases through the end of 2012;
• Require transfers from the General Fund to bail out the Highway Trust Fund to count as new spending. Since 2008, $35 billion in new spending has not counted that way in our books, simply because it was “called something else.”
• Limit Congress’ ability to defer increased spending to future years in order to make room for more immediate needs in the current year (and then argue later that the spending limits in subsequent years should be raised to accommodate the deferred spending.)