The President delivered to Congress in February his $2.4 trillion budget for the fiscal year that will start in October. With constitutional authority over the federal purse strings, lawmakers decide each year how to fund the federal government and spend your hard-earned tax dollars.
What may surprise some Iowans is the federal spending pie left up for congressional discretion is narrowing. That's because mandatory spending levels set by law to pay for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other programs are eating up a far greater percentage of the federal budget. Social Security payments alone are estimated to cost $519 billion in the next fiscal year. Roughly 80 percent of the budget goes to fund entitlements, the military, homeland security and interest on the public debt.
Nevertheless, lawmakers still jockey to score rhetorical points and set the stage for a year-long debate on setting the federal government's spending priorities. Serving as a senior member of the Senate Budget Committee allows me to help shape the spending parameters for Congress to follow as the appropriations process unfolds. From this vantage point, I will work to protect taxpayers by holding the line on unnecessary spending and advocate Iowa's interests, such as the job-creating opportunities offered by expanding renewable energy production.
The President's budget blueprint appropriately puts a premium on creating jobs and securing the homeland. It focuses spending increases on keeping Americans safe. He proposes increasing homeland security spending by 10 percent. On the same day the budget documents arrived on Capitol Hill, an odorless, poisonous substance was found in a mailroom of a U.S. Senate office building. Tests confirmed the toxin ricin, which can be fatal if ingested or injected, caused the shut down of three Senate office buildings for decontamination, testing and a criminal investigation. The incident underscores the threat of bioterrorism remains a clear and present danger.
It's been more than two years since the attacks of 9/11. We've seen the creation of a new Homeland Security Department, well-publicized security precautions, terrorism alerts and flight cancellations. Threats to public safety and national security continue to pose a risk.
The President's critics like to point out the growing deficit. As a fiscal conservative, I don't enjoy seeing the government floating in red ink. However, the economic downturn, war on terrorism and homeland security priorities drained the surplus dry. But these same critics don't like to consider the tough choices necessary to hold the line on deficit spending. Big spenders prefer to lay blame on the President's tax cuts.
However figures compiled by the nonpartisan number crunchers at the Congressional Budget Office tell a different story. The tax cuts account for 23 percent of the changed budget outlook. Spending increases account for 37 percent of the deficit. And the slow growing economy accounts for 40 percent.
Arguably, the tax relief packages I helped steer through Congress as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee are helping get the economy back on track. In 2003, the economy grew by a healthy 3.1 percent, including a robust burst of 8.2 percent growth in the third quarter. The same critics need to remember a healthy economy generates higher tax receipts.
As Chairman of the tax-writing committee in the U.S. Senate, I'll work to extend pro-family tax relief measures set to expire at the end of the year, including marriage penalty relief, child tax credit and the ten-percent income tax rate. Otherwise, working families will face a big tax increase next January.
An election year tends to intensify partisanship and political gamesmanship in Washington. From my leadership position in the U.S. Senate, I'm far more interested in conducting the people's business than scoring political points. Others may preoccupy themselves with the blame game. In the meantime, I'll continue working on cleaning up corporate governance, cracking down on abusive tax shelters, decreasing U.S. dependence on foreign oil by expanding domestically produced renewable energy, increasing access to health insurance for the uninsured and growing the economy with new jobs