Blue Dogs Support Taking a Bite Out of Skyrocketing National Debt

WASHINGTON – The Blue Dog Coalition of House Democrats on Thursday threw their support behind H.R. 5211, The Sustainable Budget Act of 2019, which would create a fiscal commission charged with balancing the federal budget within a decade.

The bill was introduced by Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawaii, co-chair of the centrist coalition’s Task Force on Fiscal Responsibility, and Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark.

The legislation has received praise from the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB).

The Sustainable Budget Act would charge a National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility with proposing strategies designed to balance the federal budget within ten years and improve the long-term federal fiscal outlook.

The commission would also recommend ways to address the growth in entitlement spending. It would be comprised of 18 members, including members of both parties.

“The underlying cause of our accelerating national deficit and debt is our collective inability to prioritize fiscal responsibility,” Rep. Case said. “We need an external bipartisan task force to focus independently and comprehensively on the deficit and debt.”

Rep. Ben McAdams, D-Utah, the other co-chair of the Blue Dog Task Force on Fiscal Responsibility and Government Reform, said on Thursday, the budget process in Washington is broken.

“The only way we can return to getting a balanced federal budget is to change what we’re doing now with the goal of returning to sound budgeting principles and policies,” he said.

The commission’s final recommendations would be due to Congress no later than one year after the Commissioners are appointed. 

If the proposal is supported by at least 12 members of the committee, including at least four members of each party, it would receive expedited consideration in the House and Senate.