million in revenue. we spent 3 6/10 trillion. that's an astonishing amount of spending. it can't be changed. we have the opportunity to change the trend. to do that we have to stop digging. we start by considering serious proposals to steer the country back on track to fiscal responsibility. my republicans colleagues introduce cost saving measures and proposals, and i've introduced my own bill to balance the nation's budget. while we've done this, where is the president? last year president obama's budget was so unserious it failed by a vote of 97-0 in the senate. in the house, the latest budget failed by a vote of 414-0. not a single member was willing to support the president's president proposal.

it won't be until at least after the election. the majority leader doesn't want his caucus to make politically tough votes. i understand that. by avoiding votes, he's been avoiding solutions. problems aren't getting solved, and this hurts members more than making some tough votes. there's no justification for business as usual. we cannot wait until it's politically expedient to do what must be done. we can't keep shying away from the votes. citizens across the country are weighing in. their anger is understandable. congressional approval is at an all time low. and the inability to make any

changes has left taxpayers with less and less confidence to take responsible action. i said it before, but it bears repeating. the decisions we make will be tough, and it will cause pain. if we continue to avoid addressing debt and spending, the pain felt in the future will be much greater. i've heard from a lot of people in wyoming about the lack of debt and budget resolution. they've shared different ideas and opinions about what solutions we should focus on, but one message is universal. do something, and do it now. instead, it looks like we'll end today with more talk and no action. i repeat the house republicans did a budget and voted on it. senate and house democrats chastised them for the budget.

senator toomey has a budget that balances in eight years that he's ready to vote on. here we are today without a voteable plan from the senate democrats. it's too bad. i'm ready to put in the work necessary to pass the budget. unfortunately, it doesn't look like we have the opportunity to do that work today. i hope we do in the near future. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator. senator crepo is recognized for a statement. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i want to say at the outset that i appreciate you bringing forward a proposal, a co comprehensive proposal, and seeking the to put into play a process that will help us to get where we need to get in the country. i appreciated the hundreds and hundredses of hours that you and i and the group of six, now eight, have put into trying to find the bipartisan pass to get guard to move the country into a fiscal position. we face a crisis today that is

the biggest crisis we have faced. we really must have bold, strong action to move forward. and i've looked forward for a long time to this day. when the budget committee would have a comprehensive plan that we could discuss. as i said to you privately, i'm discouraged at the same time, though. that although the proposal is being put forward, we are not going to be able to seriously act on it in the committee. i'm very discouraged about the fact that we're not going to move forward and take necessary steps to help us build the foundation for the issue by resolution of congress. i understand a comprehensive

plan of the nature we need to put in place is much bigger than the budget resolution can achieve. and i understand that will are many pieces of this that will need extensive negotiation to be put into place. and the reason i'm discouraged about the notion that we don't have regular order in this committee is that i believe there are, of those parts of it, that the budget resolution can achieve, and the processes that the budget resolution can put into place. there are many key elements that need to be worked into it. for example, some things need to be taken out of the plan. some things need to be added into the plan. we could make the progress to get in regular order and let all

the ideas be hashed out and played out. when we talk about what is needed in terms of a comprehensive solution. you've indicated the proposal is in excess of $5 trillion of deficit posture reduction. we need at least that, if not more. as i've looked at the bowles-simpson proposal and the gang of six and others out there, it seems to me there are five elements in a broad sense that need to be included. first is discretionary spending controls. second is major structural reform of our entitlement systems. third is reform and achieving the solvency of the social security system. fourth is an enforcement mechanism, that you've referenced earlier. that is strong enough to make sure the budget control acts or whatever budget this congress adopts are followed through on.

i can't recall ever getting to the second year of any budget. because we always get into the first year. by the time we get to the next year, we pass a new budget. or we don't pass a budget at all. in the first year, we waived significant parts of the budget that we have just adopted through the emergency procedure and other pride yours. that's why it's so critical that the fourth element be a very powerful enforcement mechanism, which we've negotiated. and the fifth is of course the tax reform. as we said earlier, we have a tax system right now that is unfair. it is expensive to comply with. it would be hard to design a tax system more unfair or more expensive to comply with. more complex and frankly more

anti-competitive than the one we have. those five elements are the ones we need to achieve. the reason i go through that is because if we had a chance to do a mark-up, we would then be table to get into the details on some of this. i would like to see them adopt the gang of six negotiations. i think it would. i think that amendment would pass this committee we would be putting into place a key solution of the package. another example would be in the tax arena, as was told to us in both the fiscal commission and this in the gang of six and others. one of the best things we could do for generate iing more reven

is to get a tax system. and that meets all the tests that we discussed here today. that would generate phenomenal economic growth, and that economic growth is the kind of thing to generate additional tax revenues and help us to meet the revenue targets in the proposal. i would like to bring an amendment to change our scoring mechanisms here in congress so that we recognize the dynamic impacts of tax policy and spending policy and utilize that in building the bipartisan agreement to solutions to move forward. i think we could have big progress made on that score, on that level, if we had a chance for a markup. in the agriculture arena, they got the message. they have looked at the targets. republicans and democrats on the ad committees in the house and senate, and they have started and made great progress in coming together in agreement,

bipartisan agreement to meet those targets. even though we haven't yet enforced them. there are numerous other examples. my point is simply this. i'm very happy to see us getting ab opportunity in a structural way in congress to start deliberating about the issues while we also need to continue the negotiations outside of the hearing room, and outside of the committee room. but i'm encouraged that that process will only last a short time, and we will not be in here putting into effect regular order in such a way that we can actually instruct and adopt and put into place a lot of the pieces of what will ultimately be needed. and i'll conclude with that. you mention what will happen at the end of the year. as i look at it, and i'm sure i'm forgetting some of it. we have the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. we have the sequestration coming into effect. we have the expiration of the payroll tax holiday. we have the expiration of the

unemployment tax extension. unemployment support extension. we will reach the debt ceiling. many of the others, if we don't resolve them yelt. many of the other tax policies that we badly need in order to help at least make our current code a little more competitive will be expired and need to be handled. and the list goes on. and the dock fix will come into play again. and i'm forgetting some others. my point is if we can use regular order to put them into play, we will give ourselves a much better opportunity when the december time frame arrives.

we will go into regular order, get the budget considerations in front of us, find those parts that we have to believe in order to achieve bipartisan agreement. find the parts that we can add to it to help build and put into place the pieces of the solution that can then help us later in the year. and adopt a budget. and i just implore you to consider letting this committee do the job. >> i thank the senator, and i thank him for his extraordinary effort. both as part of the simpson-bowles commission, and as part of the group of six, now the group of eight. literally have spent hundreds of hours in a very serious way. and i've enjoyed working with the senator. i think senator conrad has given

us the best chance to achieve those types of results. what i would consider the regular order, if we can have a budget resolution that allows our committees to function, then we have an agreement such as the bowles-simpson agreement, which is a bipartisan effort that many of you have worked on, it seems to me that's a constructive way of getting into the details that the committee's jurisdiction have to get into anyway. and if we are giving up adequate instruction, we can get to that point without the divisiveness that the budget markup normally entails. i would just like to make a couple of comments. the current deficit is not sustainable. we all understand that. we take a look at the amount of dead that we're accumulating, as a percentage of our economy is

not a sustainable amount. we know we need to do something about it. it will lead to higher interest rates that can be very damaging to the kpeconomy. we have a responsibility to develop a credible bipartisan plan. i oppose many of the policies that led to this the deficits. i have a responsibility along with every member of the senate, come up with a credible plan to get us out from these deficits. short-term, as the chairman pointed out, we have the budget control act. it has enforcement encaps. it's signed by the president. after fy 13, we need a game plan. they do that by giving us the bowles-simpson model to move forward. it's a credible plan.

we don't have to look at the democratic sources, the republican sources, this is the -- bowles-simpson has been validated as a credible, bipart s bipartisan plan to move the country forward in a long-term budget plan. it's bipart sisan they made sur we had the protections for the most vulnerable. it's very well pointed out in the recommendations. it's balanced between spending cuts and recommendations. there's only two ways to balance a budget. you bring in more revenue or cut spending. and bowles-simpson has a proper balance between the additional revenues and thus spending. i applaud their efforts on it. if you look at what this committee should be doing and that is getting the macro instructions to our committees, i would hope that we could reach that consensus.

when the bo wiwles-simpson recommendation came out, i supported the numbers. i took exception to some specific recommendations, as i think each one of us has. but that's the work that will be done by the committees of jurisdiction. that's not the work to be done by the budget committee. it's the committee of jurisdiction. i disagree with the tax recommendations. i listened to senator crepo. i think he had a lot of really good ideas. that will be up to the senate finance committee that we serve on. that's how it should work. it allows them to deal with that. i strongly agree with the rems recommendations. i thought it was raw. i thought the way they handled federal compensation and workforce numbers, well, did a disservice to the federal workforce i'm going to fight to have jurisdiction over the the

issues to make my point and to come in with the numbers of bowles-simpson, but without the punitive action. and i believe the chairman's mark allows us to do that. it's our responsibility to act. i hope we act this year. it will only happen if we have a bipartisan agreement to act. we have to listen to each other. if we can do that, we can avoid sequestration. we can remove the uncertainty that's in the economy, which is a drag on the economic recovery. it could help our economic recovery. a partisan budget will not advance the process. if we had the democratic budget, you had a republican budget, it's not going to advance the process. you saw what happened in the house of representatives. you have a partisan budget that the house has passed. it's not going to pass the senate. it's not advancing the process of moving the forward with a

game plane for fy 14 and beyond. so i really wanted to applaud the chairman for his actions. i think it's the right way to move forward. i would be the first to acknowledge that it's a long shot, if we can get this done before the elections. this at least gives us a chance to try to come together and do something that most people think we can't get done. i think the chairman has given us the best possible ability to accomplish those results. i applaud him for the work. we're going to miss your charts. when you're no longer chairman of the committee. we're not going to miss the bad jokes.

and the friendly banter. i want to say how much i appreciate your efforts to bring the a budget to the senate floor and how much i sympathize with your dilemma. even though as an acknowledged budget expert on capitol hill, there are not many of them. you understand our country faces a looming fiscal crisis. yet, majority leader reed, who determines what measures will or will not be brought to the floor of the senate, has shown no interest in having the senate complete one of the most fundamental duties. it puts you in an awkward position. that's both unfsht and unfair. at the end of a long and distinguished senate career, you deserve much better r and so do the american people. as members of the committee know, it's been more than a thousand days since the senate passed a budget plang.

and if you -- you can't paz a budget if you don't vote. there are no current plans for us to vote on any budget, this year. any working family or small business owner can tell you without a budget it's much hard tore address current or future financial problems. it leaves my constituents scratching their heads with amazement. it keeps more americans yelling at the television setting wondering why they can't get the act together and perform the most basic responsibilities. it's no wonder without a budget plan, washington will not get the fiscal house in order. this has led to criminal dollar deficits, a runaway debt now larger than the economy, and with the united states government losing its aaa credit rating.

if for this reason i'm disappointed. as a member of the senate armed services committee, the finance committee and judiciary committee, i've come to understand that mark-ups include the process of offering amendments and getting to vote on the amendments. again, you can't get a budget if you don't vote. and it appears that everyone except the president and the majority leader thinks it's a worthwhile process to put forward a realistic budget. the house of representatives had z seven votes on different budget proposals. both senator toomey and paul have presented their own in the senate. we also have the president who followed a law and submitted a

budget, but i would say it didn't receive a single vote from a democratic or a republican in the house of representatives this year. we know from the it increases spending every year in the budget window. we know the president's budget would add $10 trillion to the debt. this further weakenseses our fiscal house. and now every man, woman and child. would also note the president wants to raise taxes on the american people. his budget i think cluds $2 trillion in higher taxes. finally we know the president's budget does not make a serious attempt to strengthen programs like medicare and social security, which we all know are

unsustainable. in other words, the president proposes a big tax increase before dealing with the spiraling cost of entitlement programs, chasing higher spending with higher taxes. st this is not a prescription to either put americans back to work, or get the fiscal house in order. i sincerely hope that the majority leader will decide to shelve the political theater on gimmicks like the buffett tax that will do nothing to create jobs or lower prices or solve the debt crisis. we need leadership. we don't need more gimmicks. and delays. the american people have waited long enough. otherwise i'm afraid the public cynicism that has generated a 10% approval rating will only continue to grow in the days and months ahead. this will not bode well for anyone. democrats, republicans or

independents. we can -- i know we can deal responsibly. but it's going to take leadership. i appreciate the leadership that you've shown, mr. chairman, in raising these issues. but i'm disappointed, as my colleagues are that we can't vote on a budget, and it's more of an educational process than it is meeting our statutory duties to take up and consider a budget. but i realize you're restricted by the majority leader's refusal to bring a budget to the floor. he's the traffic cop. he decides what bills will or will not be considered. and he made it clear he will not allow a budget resolution come to the floor of the senate because of the imminent elections in november of 2012 not wanting to put a member in the position of taking tough

votes. but that's what we're here for. i hope we'll do that. i want to recommend by commending you on your extraordinary leadership during my service on it. i have been impressed by your patients and by your expertise. it's been a privilege to serve with you, sir, on the budget committee. i'm saddened this will be your final mark-up we are considering a budget resolution for fiscal year 2013, when the budget control act, our budget, one that has been enshrined in law and has spending numbers for the next decade. the appropriations committee will go forward with the annual spending bills. even though we already have a budget as a matter of law for

next year, this committee can be helpful in focusing on a longer-term deaf sis reduction plan. it was a critical first step in getting our deficits under control. much more needs to be done. come the end of the year, these decisions will be forced. if we begin meaningful, bipartisan conversations now, we have the chance in this committee to play a significant role in those discussions. before considering any deficit reduction plan, i would like to remember that when president clinton left office in 2001, he left a balanced budget and a country poised to pay down by 2009 our entire national debt held by the public. those surpluses were squandered, largely through deficits funding

tax cuts tilted to the higher earning americans. i'm pleased to see that the chairman's proposal based on the president's bipartisan commission will raise $2.4 trillion over tax reform. a great majority of the american people and a majority of colleagues support a tax system that ensures those at the top of the income ladder pay a tax cut that the families pay. no matter how elegant the reform we come up may be, we ought to include this safeguard against future congresses, again inserting loopholes that benefit primarily well connected high income earners. while the chairman's version of the fiscal plan represents a fine starting point for bipartisan negotiations i have deep concerns about the cuts to medicare and medicaid. as many members have heard me

say we can low you are ou health care spending by improving the way in which we deliver health care. potential system wide savings estimates have ranged from the $700 billion per year estimate of the president's council of economiced economiced a -- economic advisors. they testified before the committee last year and agreed with me on the potential reform. as did they when they were here. mr. bowles said what you were saying is exactly right. he said it's not scorable. and that's why it's not in our report. senator simpson agreed saying my assessment has, quote, gone to the core of it. we fould focus our health care system on obtaining goals if

we're smart we can avoid the benefit cuts needed there today. this may not be a bipartisan issue. senator has spoken to it with knowledge and conviction and i look forward to working to help the system. i do reject the system's social recommendations. while other parts are more balanced. the social security would have an 80% to 20% combination. as we know, the congressional budget act prohibtds making changes in the budget resolution, and this resolution does not do that. but since the mark follows the recommendations of the fiscal commission, i make this point. particularly with respect to the chained cpi. the current cpi failed to produce cost of living adjustments in 2010 and 2011