Republican Solutions: Fiscal Policy

Fiscal policy has languished under Majority Leader Reid. The national debt has increased by nearly $7 trillion under President Obama, and the Senate has not fully addressed the causes of our skyrocketing debt. When crises have happened or we’ve reached some deadline, Democrats have agreed only to the minimum reforms possible – they’ve pushed the real reforms further into the future.

In contrast, a Republican-led Senate would take steps to secure our economic future by addressing our growing national debt, strengthening entitlement programs, and modernizing the tax code. Senator Orrin Hatch, ranking Republican on the Finance Committee, has outlined a path forward on comprehensive tax reform. Senator Jeff Sessions, ranking Republican on the Budget Committee and Senator Richard Shelby, ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee have both committed to fiscal responsibility in the form of passing a budget and regular-order appropriations bills. 

Here are a few fiscal policies the Senate could explore if Republicans are put in charge:

• Tax Reform. The tax code is broken. The IRS estimates that it takes 13 hours for the average taxpayer to file their taxes, including record keeping, planning, and filling out the forms. Last year the National Taxpayer Advocate estimated that Americans spend 6.1 billion hours and $168 billion complying with all the requirements necessary to file taxes. The tax code and related regulations total more than 73,000 pages. When the income tax was created in 1913, it was 400 pages. A Republican-led Senate would work to pass comprehensive tax reform with lower rates for individuals and businesses, and simpler and fairer policies. This would help grow the economy and jobs by modernizing the code and creating certainty for the future. It would also make the IRS less relevant in the lives of all Americans.

• Pass a Budget. Senate Democrats have abandoned the traditional practice of passing a budget resolution every year. The first time a budget failed to pass the Senate was 2002, when Democrats also controlled the chamber. Under Majority Leader Reid, Democrats failed to pass a budget in 2010, 2011, 2012, and they are determined to ignore the requirement to pass a budget in 2014 as well. A Republican-led Senate would pass a responsible budget resolution that addresses our national debt problem. It would also work with the House of Representatives and the president to implement the budget resolution’s priorities.

• Regular Order for Appropriations. Under Senator Reid, the Senate’s appropriations process has become a shadow of what it once was. The Senate used to debate and amend individual appropriations bills regularly. Now appropriations debates are rare, and amendments are few. Republicans and Democrats have been allowed just seven appropriations amendments during the past two fiscal years appropriations. A Republican-led Senate would return to regular work of appropriations bills so that all Americans can be represented in the spending that Congress must approve every year.

• Address the Debt. The national debt now stands at more than $17.5 trillion. CBO estimates that it is on its way to more than $27 trillion in a decade. Congress has taken some limited steps since 2011 to rein in the debt. Unfortunately, President Obama and Senate Democrats have stood in the way of meaningful reform that would accomplish more than the bare minimum. A Republican-led Senate would work with the House to craft a debt reduction package that would make responsible choices about our unsustainable debt.

• Strengthen Entitlement Programs. A major driver of future deficits and debt is entitlement spending. For fiscal year 2014, entitlements, interest payments on the debt, and other mandatory spending make up two-thirds of our federal budget. In 10 years, that number will rise to 77 percent. By 2038, spending on entitlements as a share of the economy will double from a historic average of 6.9 percent of GDP to 14.2 percent. A Republican-led Senate would keep our promises to this generation. And it would stabilize and strengthen entitlements, ensuring they are there for the next generation.

A Republican-led Senate would return seriousness to the nation’s tax system and expenditures. Providing certainty to fiscal policy would assure markets that long-term debt issues will be taken care of and that there will be no economy-wrecking debt crisis, the most predictable in the country’s history. This, along with a modern tax code, will allow employers to put Americans back to work and jump-start the nation’s economy without Washington getting in the way.