12.07.16

Enzi Unveils Reforms to Fix America’s Broken Budget Process

WASHINGTON D.C. – Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, today unveiled a summary of legislative reforms to fix America’s broken budget process that he plans to focus on next year during the 115th Congress.

“Hardworking taxpayers are eager for real change. With a new President taking office on January 20th, Congress has an opportunity – and responsibility – to get to work,” said Chairman Enzi.  “One of our top priorities should be fixing America’s broken budget process to provide our nation with a responsible fiscal blueprint and help guide our spending decisions now and into the future. As Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, this will be one of my top priorities in the new congress.”

The Senate Budget Committee has been working on reforms that would fix America’s broken budget process over the past year.  Many of these reforms strengthen the congressional budget, the only existing tool that forces Congress to examine all spending and revenues, including automatic spending, over a ten-year period.  Chairman Enzi has said that the budgeting process should be easier to adopt and harder to ignore. 

Enzi stated that Congress should:

  • Reduce the needless political hurdles to passing a budget and making it harder to ignore overspending once Congress agreed to it;
  • Make it harder to pass a bill that busts the congressional budget by requiring more votes to waive the violation;
  • Create new rules to ensure Congress passes its annual spending measures on time  (The current process has been completed on time only four times in the last 40 years, and the last time it was completed on time was in 1998.  Obviously this year is no exception to the rule.);
  • Set aside specific floor time only for consideration of spending bills;
  • Enact legislation establishing a two-year spending cycle, so that it has more time to review spending and complete its work; and
  • Enact legislation that would end government shutdowns to prevent our annual, end-of-year spending crises.

Enzi’s full summary of legislative initiatives to fix the budget can be found HERE.

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