As you know, I have long been a supporter of capital budgeting. For many years, I have supported establishing a federal capital budget. I have introduced stand alone legislation and constitutional amendments to balance the federal budget using a capital budget. In 1994 I began introducing legislation to establish a Commission to study capital budgeting. I would like to think that your presence here is in part, response to the work that I have done over the years.
Since I began my capital budgeting crusade years ago many things have changed. Many of my allies, from both sides of the aisle, have left the House for the Senate, state office or retirement, the White House has changed administrations and the budget landscape looks bright. Now, we are not just talking about balancing the budget, we are talking about surpluses. Now is the time that we should be focusing on establishing a capital budget which highlights investment over consumption spending.
The Congress has passed legislation reaffirming the importance of investment in physical infrastructure. The effort to take the Transportation Trust Funds off-budget highlighted
many of the issues that the Chairman and I have addressed for years.
This is not just an issue of using taxpayer dollars for their intended
use, but our responsibility to future generations -- not to leave a legacy
of crumbling roads and decaying bridges.
At home in West Virginia, I am often asked, "Why doesn't the Federal Government balance its budget like my family?" As a veteran of six years of service on the House Budget Committee, I have come to believe that many of the budget problems facing this Congress, particularly the shift in recent years from public investment toward consumption spending, have as much to do with the budget process as with decisions made -- or not made -- by the Congress.
Perhaps the greatest, and to me the most mystifying, problem with the current system is the fact that the federal government's unified budget makes no distinction between money spent on investments and money spent for consumption. Highways, federal salaries, health benefits and foreign aid, which are all examples of federal programs that are paid for through taxes and borrowing, are all accounted for in basically the same way. But all borrowing is not created equal. Borrowing for physical infrastructure can be justified if it pays for itself in the long-run by increasing the nation's wealth and capacity for future economic expansion. Borrowing to meet the day-to-day expenses of government cannot.
That is why I have consistently introduced legislation that would divide
the federal unified budget into an operating budget and a capital budget.
Under my legislation, the
operating budget would include all programs that meet the immediate obligations
of running the government. The capital budget would include long-term,
tangible investments in infrastructure. Under this legislation, the operating
budget would be balanced, but the federal government could borrow money
for certain investments in infrastructure that increase the national wealth
and contribute to economic growth. Money borrowed for those infrastructure
investments would be paid back over the life of the road, bridge, sewer
system or other infrastructure investment.
The supplemental information currently provided is useful and it represents a good beginning. However, I do not believe it goes far enough because supplemental information plays no role in the formal budget process. It is not used in the formulation of the budget -- it is merely assembled after executive budget decisions have been made. In addition, the information plays no part in the congressional budget process. As a result, theinformation has had little effect on the level of capital investment undertaken by the Federal government.
Many other industrialized countries employ a capital budget, and businesses and most state and local governments have investment budgets that separate long-term capital investments from year-to-year operating costs. Individuals and groups as diverse as former OMB Director Richard Darman, the General Accounting Office and the Progressive Policy Institute have endorsed distinguishing between investment and consumption spending in the budget. As a recent GAO report on the harmful effects of the deficit points out, "a new [budget] decision-making framework is needed, one in which the choice between consumption and investment spending is highlighted throughout the decision process, rather than being displayed for information purposes after the fact."
Businesses know the difference between borrowing to consume and borrowing
to invest. Borrowing is a smart move when the money is used to finance
productive investments that help a business modernize its equipment, expand
and become more profitable. But borrowing money to pay salaries or executive
bonuses or to send employees to expensive conferences rather than to modernize
would be foolish.
Instituting a capital budget would force policy makers to decide whether or not each investment is worth borrowing money to finance. In addition, the public would benefit from knowing that the government's current costs are being paid for and that any borrowing is for investments in the future rather than paying for the present and saddling future generations with bad debt.
All of us agree that the U.S. must make investments that are critical to future economic growth but that the budget deficit must also be reduced. Rather than going from crisis to crisis, the federal government should have an institutionalized system of long-term investment planning. Adopting a federal capital budget would provide such a mechanism.
Members of the Commission, this is a time of fundamental change in the
way government serves the people. In order to be more responsive to taxpayers'
needs and more responsible with taxpayers' money, I believe the federal
government should reform its budgeting to distinguish between consumption
and investment. I am hopeful that the Commission will recommend establishing
a capital budget that addresses long-term planning and investment. It is
important to remember that the current budget process is biased -- for
consumption and at the expense of capital investment. I appreciate the
opportunity to discuss this matter with you today.
Section I: Short Title
Section II: Statement of Findings and Purpose
Section III: Establishes Capital and Operating Budgets
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