Doing nothing worst possible option
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February 26, 2013 |
By Senator Mike Crapo and Congressman Mike
Simpson
Senator Alan Simpson (R-Wyoming), Senator
Mark Warner (D-Virginia) and President of the
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget Maya
MacGuineas recently joined us at a federal
fiscal issues symposium hosted by the University
of Idaho’s McClure Center for Public Policy
Research.
The symposium provided an opportunity for us to
sit down with some of those working to find
solutions to America’s fiscal crisis and discuss
with Idahoans the debt crisis that threatens our
nation’s future.
America is at a debt-to-gross-domestic-product
ratio that no nation in the last 200 years has
been able to sustain without serious economic
consequences. As panelist Maya MacGuineas framed
it, our debt levels are already doing damage.
“Our economy is not growing as fast as it
otherwise could be," she said. "We are not going
to be able to have a vibrant economy until we
quit borrowing so much.”
The solutions are difficult but achievable, and
require that all options must be on the table.
We know that we must control federal spending,
and a revenue solution is part of the remedy. We
know that we must have budget enforcement
mechanisms that will finally keep Congress
within adopted budget limits, and we know that
there is a pathway out of this if we act now.
We also know that the worst of all possible
options is doing nothing.
If we do nothing, our entitlement programs —
Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security continue
screaming toward insolvency. If we do nothing,
the bond markets will solve this program rather
than Congress or the President, and the
consequences will be devastating. But we have
opportunities to make progress in this terrible
crisis.
We have the opportunity to reform the
overly-burdensome tax code and make America a
strong, competitive economy again. We must enact
pro-growth tax reform, which would simplify the
tax code for all Americans, grow our economy and
make American businesses more competitive.
We have the opportunity to reform our
entitlement programs and put them on paths to
solvency. We also have the opportunity to put in
place budget enforcement mechanisms that give
Americans confidence that federal spending
limitations will be honored. Achieving these
reforms would reassure America’s future.
This is the economic challenge of our lifetime
and will determine the future of our country. We
must come together and work out a solution that
includes tax and entitlement program reform,
deficit reduction and tough budget enforcement
mechanisms. It should, and must, include the
participation of all Americans in finding and
implementing solutions.
During the symposium, we took questions about
whether spending cuts through sequestration are
expected to take effect, the future of Social
Security and Medicare, the impacts of potential
defense spending cuts and expected changes in
support of veterans.
We heard from a small business owner seeking tax
certainty and simplicity and a family physician
wondering about the impacts on affordable health
care if something or nothing is done to address
the deficit. We heard from a local mayor and
county commissioner wondering about the impacts
of deficit reduction on the ability of
communities to provide necessary services. We
heard from a dairy farmer interested in passage
of a Farm Bill with existing farm programs. We
heard from a college student and teacher
wondering about the potential impacts of deficit
reductions on education.
We thank the McClure Center for hosting this
valuable discussion.
We hope that through this symposium and others
more Americans gain a deeper understanding of
the solutions necessary to avoid the worst
option — doing nothing — by utilizing our
opportunities to strengthen our economy.
The symposium, which was broadcast on Idaho
Public Television, can be accessed through the
following link:
http://video.idahoptv.org/video/2337467115. |
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