Chairman Greenspan, it is my belief that your successful management of the economy can be summed up with one word ? confidence ? the confidence that financial markets and businesses have in your efforts at the Federal Reserve. Unfortunately, that confidence is missing when it comes to Congressional efforts to manage the Federal budget. Although we have paid down the publicly held Federal debt by more than $360 billion over the past three years, most Americans still remember the three decades of deficits we had before that.
Notwithstanding our recent success, the American people are understandably concerned about our ability to cut taxes, reform Social Security and Medicare, and pay down the debt. Therefore, it is my view that the budget resolution we adopt this year must also contain a plan that maintains our commitment to debt reduction. This plan must not only reduce the debt held by the public, but also our future debt to Social Security and Medicare.
By adopting such a plan, and more importantly, by sticking to it, I believe we will give the American people greater confidence in our ability to manage the Federal budget. I believe such a plan is necessary because, unfortunately, while there are many who talk about debt reduction, what they really want is more spending. Like the old proverb about a wolf in sheep 's clothing, we've heard the sheep bleating for debt reduction, only to have the wolves howl for more spending. Recent history shows how true this is. Compared to the levels adopted in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, we've already increased discretionary spending by more than $165 billion.
Chairman Greenspan you have commented in the past that given the choice between tax cuts and higher spending, you would prefer to see tax cuts. I think we all recognize that the real choice we face is not between tax cuts and debt reduction, but between tax cuts and higher spending. While the pressure to increase spending continues to rise, there has been no relief for the American taxpayer. Indeed, given the fact that our tax system is indexed for inflation, but not economic growth, more Americans are being pushed into higher tax brackets every year. This so called "real bracket creep" will cost taxpayers roughly $400 billion over the next ten years. That means every year without a tax cut, results in a tax increase.
My hope is that we can work with the new administration to pass a budget that will provide needed tax relief for American families, reform Social Security and Medicare, and maintain our commitment to debt reduction. If we do our job, we can make the national debt something our children and grandchildren know only from the history books.