March 16,2023
Urges Administration to engage in bipartisan negotiations over debt ceiling
Washington,
D.C.–At a U.S. Senate
Finance Committee hearing on President Biden’s FY2024 budget, Ranking Member
Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) said that after two years of economic mismanagement that
contributed to record-high inflation and excessive deficit spending, the Biden
Administration is doubling down with more of the same in its budget.
Noting that Americans want Congress to exercise fiscal restraint, Crapo urged
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to engage in bipartisan discussions regarding
the debt ceiling.
Click here to watch.
On debt
ceiling negotiations:
We are in
agreement that we need to protect the full faith and credit of the United
States. Frankly, the problem that we see, on the Republican side, is that
it’s all tax and all spending increases in terms of the Administration’s
approach to this. And while you and the Chairman just discussed a number
of concerns you have with Republican ideas with regard to how to deal with
this, the bottom line is we must stop trying to solve this problem with
massive new spending and massive new taxes.
At this
point, the President has refused to negotiate with Republicans on fiscal
restraint policies that they believe need to be put into place with a new
extension of the debt ceiling. We must engage in negotiations to get
over some of these disagreements and this new debt ceiling resolution must
include fiscal restraint. We have got to get some kind of attention
to this. I think the American public is crying out for Congress to pay
attention to this issue and put fiscal restraint in place. Can you
commit, at least, to negotiate with Republicans as we try to work forward on
some aspects of fiscal restraint to put into the debt ceiling discussion?
I interpret
your answer to be that you are very willing to discuss the President’s budget
tax increases and increased spending–but with regard to the debt ceiling
discussion, you’re not willing to discuss any actual fiscal restraint in terms
of spending control in the United States. If I interpreted that wrong,
I’m sorry, but we have got to get negotiating on more than just whether the
President’s budget is the right approach; there are other ideas and we engaged
in that. I just hope you will take that message back to the
President.
Click here to watch.
In his opening
remarks, Crapo compared the economic mismanagement of the last two years
against the strong economy that existed under Republican leadership. He
also highlighted the $43.2 billion funding request for the Internal Revenue
Service (IRS) in the President’s budget, which is in addition to the
already-approved $80 billion awarded the agency in the partisan Inflation
Reduction Act.
On the
President’s failed economic policies:
The
President’s budget demonstrates the Administration has not learned from its
mistakes. After two years of policies that contributed to record-high
inflation and excessive deficit spending, this Administration is doubling down
with more of the same. The spending binge must stop. We must
address our growing deficits in order to put the United States’ finances on a
sustainable path, and pro-growth tax policy should be part of the solution.
The Tax
Cuts & Jobs Act led to one of the strongest economies in generations. TCJA introduced competitive tax
rates while broadening the base, including by enacting the first global minimum
tax of its kind, and putting an end to corporate inversions. It also
contributed to record-high corporate tax receipts, both nominally and as a
share of gross domestic product. But instead of considering bipartisan,
pro-growth policies, the President’s budget includes a whopping $4.7
trillion of new and increased taxes on American job creators, which
ultimately means fewer jobs and lower wages.
On the $43.2
billion funding request for the IRS:
The
Administration continues to hide its true intentions for transforming the
IRS. The budget doubles-down on the $80 billion already given to the IRS,
including two additional years of plus-up funding totaling $29.1 billion solely
for “enforcement and compliance initiatives,” in addition to $14.1 billion more
of yearly funding. That’s another $43 billion!
Secretary
Yellen, I agree with you that having a funding plan for an agency budget that
dwarves many others is “critical.” In the meantime, the IRS has embarked
on a “spend first, plan later” approach that is not transparent or
responsible, and is a surefire recipe for error, waste and mismanagement.
While we may
not have all the details, we do know that only six percent of the existing
plus-up funding is for modernization, while over 62 percent is solely for
hiring–more than 93 percent of which is enforcement hiring. These new
funds are not going to replace retiring IRS agents, as annual appropriations
already provide that funding, and the Administration has not requested any
reductions in IRS annual funding to account for replacing retirees with plus-up
funding.
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