Boyle Highlights Need for Debt Ceiling Reform at Budget Committee Member Day
WASHINGTON, DC —Today, Pennsylvania Congressman Brendan F. Boyle, Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee, delivered opening remarks at the Budget Committee's Member Day Hearing,highlighting the need to safeguard our nation's economy against Republican brinkmanship.
Ranking Member Boyle recently authored an article in the Harvard Journal on Legislation on the dire need for debt ceiling reform. In the article, Ranking Member Boyle examines the huge and unnecessary risks created by the current debt ceiling mechanism, which would be eliminated by his Debt Ceiling Reform Act of 2023.
Remarks as delivered and video are below:
(Click for video of remarks as delivered)
Ranking Member Boyle's remarks as delivered:
Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a few thoughts. First, as you know, while there are a number of things that obviously we're going to disagree on, as we've talked about a lot in hearings and then outside of hearings, we both fully agree that the budget process is completely broken.
It has existed for a half century and we are so far beyond the way it was originally designed to work, that it's at the point where there is widespread bipartisan agreement — not unanimity, I'd point out — but widespread bipartisan agreement, both inside the Capitol, as well as outside, that we need real budget process reform.
And look, I'm a pragmatist. The reality is there is a Republican House and a Democratic Senate. If we're really going to achieve and make our mark to last not just a year or two, but many years to come, and fix this, and have a permanent solution, it is not going to be a partisan Republican bill, even though I know that would be the instinct for any majority to pass.
It's just not going to fly in the Senate and not going to become law. If we really want to fix this process, it needs to be truly bipartisan. Now, I know that we've had recently several hearings about a debt commission, and I appreciate Mr. Chairman, your genuine passion for that. But I think it's great that we're getting into budget process reform.
I think there's a whole host, even though I've talked before about skepticism I have about commissions, I have to say the one area where commissions I think have done good work, although they ultimately didn't get their ideas over the goal line, the one area where they have done good work is in budget process reform.
You served on the most recent commission, the one in 2018. My predecessor, Chairman Yarmuth, served on that as well. There are a number of good ideas here that I know had bipartisan support in that commission five, six years ago, that I'm very interested in and we've talked about some of them before, biennial budgeting to look at, several other things that I think are very much worth exploring.
There's some help from the outside, some academics. Again, both from the right and the left and, and also nonpartisan, who I think can offer real value to us and, and focus on that. I also will say again, just as the Chair has a great passion for debt commission, I have a real passion when it comes to reforming our debt ceiling.
We are playing with dynamite. We can survive and have survived government shutdowns, even though they're costly. They hurt our GDP. They lead to lower job growth. CBO has documented every single one has led to an increase in the deficit. But we've been able to survive government shutdowns. We are not able to survive a debt default.
So making sure, as part of our budget reform exploration and work, making sure that debt ceiling reform is part of that is absolutely critical because while, and this has been the pattern over the last dozen years, while at the moment the debt ceiling isn't front and center, it will be back in front of us, in almost exactly a year, about 13 months from now.
So hopefully, and I would urge this committee that really over the next, welI, of course we're going to have the Christmas break and holiday break, but once we get back in January, I do think the work of this committee should really be dedicated toward widespread bipartisan budget reform and I look forward to working with you in that effort, Mr. Chairman.
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