At Budget Hearing, Boyle Highlights that Republican Economic Proposals Will Explode the Deficit

WASHINGTON, D.C. —Today, Pennsylvania Congressman Brendan F. Boyle, Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee, delivered remarks at a Budget Committee hearing on the nation’s fiscal health.

At the hearing, Boyle discussed how Republican economic proposals will explode the deficit. In particular, he highlighted that according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), extending the Trump tax cuts would add $4.6 trillion to the deficit. These tax cuts would disproportionately benefit billionaires and large corporations, and according to CBO, would not help grow the economy, contrary to Republican claims.

Remarks as delivered and video are below:

Ranking Member Boyle on GOP tax cuts:

“Two decades of Republican tax cuts have exploded our national debt. We have heard testimony in this committee during this term that we are missing 10 trillion in revenue, cumulatively, just because of the tax cuts we have had ever since 2001.”

“I don't think the response to those long-term structural issues and our rising national debt is to compound those issues with a new 4.6 trillion in debt because of extending the tax cuts in the TCJA for another decade. Unfortunately, that is what some are proposing. If we really want to get serious about dealing with our long-term structural challenges, and dealing with our national debt, the very last thing we should do is add 4.6 trillion to our national debt.”

Ranking Member Boyle’s full opening remarks as delivered:

Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman for convening this hearing today. I also want to extend a warm welcome to our witnesses, and I appreciate you taking the time to be here with us. And as this Congress comes to a close, and I believe this will be the last time we're together this year, I also want to take a moment to recognize the contributions of members on both sides.

Especially those who will be departing Congress at the end of this session, including: Barbara Lee, Dan Kildee, Earl Blumenauer, Jennifer Wexton, and David Trone on the Democratic side, and Michael Burgess, Drew Ferguson, and Greg Lopez on the Republican side. Greg, it's nice to meet you, and also goodbye. [Laughter]

I also want to just take a moment and give special recognition to two others who began this Congress with us on the committee. One is Brian Higgins, who left Congress earlier this year, as well, of course, as Sheila Jackson Lee, who sat right at the end of that row and was such a powerful voice in this committee and in Congress. We tragically lost her in July, but certainly her legacy to public service is not forgotten here.

Now, I also want to take a moment as we're at the end of this year to look back on where we were just four years ago, or really, I would say five years ago at the beginning of 2020. We were just beginning the COVID pandemic, the deadliest event in American history by far.

More than 1 million Americans lost their lives, double the death toll from the Civil War and triple the death toll from World War Two. We were in shambles in terms of our economy. We were flat on our back with millions of Americans out of work, and economists were predicting high unemployment for years to come.

Some were even predicting high inflation for the rest of the decade. But thanks to our policies, our economy has staged the world's leading recovery. Since 2021, we have created more than 16 million jobs. That is 7 million more jobs than the pre-COVID peak, which was in February 2020, right before the pandemic began.

So we've recovered all of the jobs lost through the pandemic and added 7 million more on top of that. In terms of inflation, despite the fact there were those predicting that it would take a massive amount of unemployment in order to tame it, not so. Inflation has been tamed from a peak of 9 percent in the summer of 2022 to now roughly 2.5 percent.

And in terms of our economic growth, it was 2. 5 percent last year. Remember, there were some Wall Street firms, one of which even predicted a "100 percent chance" of a recession. Well, they were 100 percent wrong. Now, we know that there's still work to be done. There are still many American families that are dealing with the economic ramifications from the pandemic and the inflation that came with it.

So we still, to be clear, have work to do. But it is worth reflecting and taking a moment that there is not a country on Earth that wouldn't trade places with our economy in a heartbeat if they had the opportunity to do so. Now, looking beyond just the next year and the next couple of years, we do have, as we have both talked about, Mr. Chairman, in this committee a number of times.

We do have some long-term structural issues that demand our attention. An aging population is increasing costs for programs like Social Security and Medicare, programs millions of Americans depend on for a dignified retirement. Widespread income inequality is leaving our economy more vulnerable to downturns and economic shocks.

And, and this is where we will disagree, I think, two decades of Republican tax cuts have exploded our national debt. We have heard testimony in this committee during this term that we are missing 10 trillion in revenue, cumulatively, just because of the tax cuts we have had ever since 2001. I don't think the response to those long-term structural issues and our rising national debt is to compound those issues with a new 4.6 trillion in debt because of extending the tax cuts in the TCJA for another decade. Unfortunately, that is what some are proposing. If we really want to get serious about dealing with our long-term structural challenges, and dealing with our national debt, the very last thing we should do is add 4.6 trillion to our national debt.

And that's not my figure. That is exactly the CBO estimate on what the extension of the TCJA tax cuts would cost. So I look forward to this hearing. I see I'm already half a minute over my time. So, I'll just conclude with this, Mr. Chairman, congratulations, not only on your re-election to Congress, but your re-election as chairman of this committee.

It has truly been a pleasure the last two years working with you, my friend, and I look forward to getting to do so again for another two years. With that, I yield back.

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