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Floor Speech
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Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I submit to the Senate the budget for fiscal year 2025. Last summer, Congress agreed to a 2-year budget deal as part of negotiations surrounding the debt limit. That was the bipartisan Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, or the FRA. It included a provision to serve in place of a formal budget resolution for both fiscal years 2024 and 2025. I am submitting the necessary budgetary levels to implement that agreement today.
In the Budget Committee, my Republican colleagues have suggested that we should be debating a budget resolution. So I will take this moment to remind them that we already have one in place from that agreement. I don't see our committee wasting precious time on something that has already been decided, when we could and, indeed, should be preparing for the future.
When at least $10 trillion of our national debt stems from two exogenous shocks to the economy--namely, the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID pandemic--it would be folly for the Budget Committee not to focus on future shocks to our economy, which is why the Budget Committee has been focused on threats to our Nation's long-term fiscal outlook and on proposing solutions--like how climate change poses systemic risks to our economy, like how tax cuts for the wealthy are driving up deficits, like how making the wealthy pay their fair share would protect Social Security and Medicare essentially forever, like how we can cut healthcare costs with zero cuts to benefits if we pursue commonsense reforms to healthcare delivery systems.
When it comes to the economy-wide risks from climate change, we have heard from economists, central bankers, financial experts, insurance and mortgage industry leaders, and many others who are ringing the alarm bells.
In the Budget Committee, we have heard testimony about rising seas making large swaths of coastline less and less habitable and less and less insurable. I am sure the Presiding Officer is seeing that in his home State of Georgia. As the decades unspool ahead of us, more and more coastal communities will be at risk, eventually rendering an estimated trillions of dollars in real estate virtually worthless.
We have heard similar testimony about property becoming uninsurable in wildfire-risk areas. We are already seeing insurers flee communities on the frontlines of climate change. We have seen premiums skyrocketing in response to increased climate-related damages. Things will likely get uglier.
So the committee launched investigations into the climate change- fueled insurance crisis. We are working with Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on an investigation into the fossil fuel disinformation campaign in order to better understand how it stalled political progress on climate action and imperiled our economy.
What our joint investigation revealed is that Big Oil knew the environmental and economic harms of its products but deceived the American public so as to keep producing and selling ever more oil and gas. We learned that Big Oil and its trade associations continue to oppose climate policies, including ones that they publicly claim to support.
Unfortunately, our series of hearings on climate costs and the fossil fuel industry's role in perpetuating the climate crisis has been largely met with derision or mockery or just trying to change the subject by many of my Republican colleagues. As I said at the last hearing on this subject, you can have your opinion now, but history will judge.
While acknowledging that revenue is a subject within the purview of the Budget Committee, Republican response to our hearings on raising revenue has not evinced much substantive interest. There is not much outrage, for instance, that big corporations pay lower tax rates than plumbers.
The Budget Committee has held seven hearings, with more planned, examining how tax cuts for the wealthy and for big corporations and the resulting tax gap have been actually primary drivers of our deficit. We have learned that the Bush and Trump tax cuts have added $10 trillion to the debt and, in fact, are the main reason the debt as a share of the economy is increasing.
According to CBO, extending the Trump tax cuts, which Republicans appear to want to do, would cost another $4.6 trillion--that is trillion with a ``t''--mostly for billionaires and big corporations. You can see where the priorities lie.
We have heard testimony that by closing loopholes, making the wealthy and large corporations pay a fairer share, and cracking down on wealthy tax cheats, we can protect Social Security and Medicare forever, invest in an economy that works for everyone, and reduce our deficit--like my Medicare and Social Security Fair Share Act, which would shore up these twin pillars of retirement security essentially forever without raising taxes on anyone making less than $400,000.
What have Republicans proposed? Well, not much. They spent decades trying to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits, and then they rose to their feet in acclamation, in last year's State of the Union Address, to assure the American public that they would not cut benefits. Well, if that is the case, then the only solution left is more revenue. So it would be nice if they were willing to discuss how to make the wealthy pay their fair share and protect these programs into the future.
Another big driver of Federal spending is healthcare. The United States continues to spend more on healthcare as a percentage of GDP than any other peer OECD country, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Actuary estimates healthcare will grow to 20 percent GDP by 2031. For all that spending, the average life expectancy in America is lower than that of many peer countries with far more efficient healthcare systems.
So the Budget Committee is tackling this too. We held a series of hearings on reducing inefficiencies in healthcare that increase costs for patients, families, and the Federal Government. In just our most recent hearing, we heard how administrative burdens--the billing, reporting, and all the nonclinical work incidental to the actual delivery of healthcare--are responsible for over half a trillion dollars in healthcare spending every year.
And here, I am happy to report that there have been bipartisan glimmers of hope. There has been bipartisan agreement on the source of these problems, and I have begun conversations with Ranking Member Grassley about what legislation we might be able to work on together in this space.
I can only wish that my Republican colleagues were similarly willing to have serious conversations on climate risk and on revenue opportunities. As our hearings have made clear, if you care about American debt deficits, you have to care about climate change, about unrigging our Tax Code, and about addressing wasteful spending in healthcare.
And with that, section 122 of the FRA requires that I submit the levels that will be used to enforce the second year of the spending agreement. This submission sets the spending level for appropriations for 2025 at the spending caps in law and allows the Appropriations Committee to begin its work.
It also sets mandatory spending and revenue levels for 10 years at current law levels. I am also updating the reserve fund in the FRA to be available for legislation that doesn't increase the deficit between 2025 and 2034.
895.212 N/A Revised Nonsecurity Category/Nondefense... 710.688 N/A General Purpose Discretionary............. N/A 1,869.797 Memo: On-budget................................. 1,599.212 1,863.193 Off-budget................................ 6.688 6.604 Mandatory................................. 1,562.610 1,544.166 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ N/A = not applicable. Budgetary changes related to program integrity
initiatives and other adjustments pursuant to section 251(b) of the
Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, as amended by the
Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, will be held in reserve until
consideration of legislation providing such funding. ``Revised
security category'' means discretionary appropriations in budget
function 050, while ``revised nonsecurity category'' means
discretionary appropriations other than in budget function 050. ALLOCATION OF SPENDING AUTHORITY TO SENATE COMMITTEES OTHER THAN APPROPRIATIONS (Pursuant to Section 122 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 and Section 302 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974) [$ in billions] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2025 2025- 2029 2025- 2034 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry; Budget Authority.......................................... 186.630 967.147 2,004.484 Outlays................................................... 175.749 916.958 1,877.482 Armed Services: Budget Authority.......................................... 287.793 1,094.587 2,053.411 Outlays................................................... 285.585 1,091.957 2,056.297 Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: Budget Authority.......................................... 29.964 170.669 356.235 Outlays................................................... -14.947 -80.642 -130.907 Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Budget Authority.......................................... 24.029 102.967 194.261 Outlays................................................... 18.793 98.312 177.180 Energy and Natural Resources: Budget Authority.......................................... 10.108 41.737 82.818 Outlays................................................... 14.840 76.740 122.300 Environment and Public Works: Budget Authority.......................................... 67.352 333.108 664.759 Outlays................................................... 16.385 62.091 88.801 Finance: Budget Authority.......................................... 3,934.908 21,879.366 51,266.540 Outlays................................................... 3,932.931 21,884.552 51,247.329 Foreign Relations: Budget Authority.......................................... 52.009 228.212 449.061 Outlays................................................... 49.447 225.675 446.499 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: Budget Authority.......................................... 71.215 295.039 584.696 Outlays................................................... 79.517 297.034 564.497 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Budget Authority.......................................... 184.521 965.290 2,033.245 Outlays................................................... 186.079 955.982 2,005.571 Indian Affairs: Budget Authority.......................................... 0.499 2.382 4.248 Outlays................................................... 0.876 3.120 4.994 Judiciary: Budget Authority.......................................... 20.696 102.797 209.268 Outlays................................................... 23.650 106.526 210.899 Rules and Administration: Budget Authority.......................................... 0.052 0.260 0.536 Outlays................................................... 0.030 0.162 0.356 Intelligence: Budget Authority.......................................... 0.514 2.570 3.598 Outlays................................................... 0.514 2.570 3.598 Veterans' Affairs: Budget Authority.......................................... 222.290 1,296.471 3,006.815 Outlays................................................... 218.748 1,302.338 3,032.704 Small Business: Budget Authority.......................................... 0.000 0.000 0.000 Outlays................................................... 0.010 0.010 0.010 Unassigned to Committee: Budget Authority.......................................... -1,389.309 -7,354.901 -16,808.687 Outlays................................................... -1,377.785 -7,285.811 -16,666.582 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BUDGET AGGREGATES
(Pursuant to Section 122 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 and Section 302 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974) [$ in billions] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2025 2025- 2029 2025- 2034 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Spending: Budget Authority............. 5,302.483 N/A N/A Outlays...................... 5,473.615 N/A N/A Revenue 3,713.563 21,082.529 47,281.026 Social Security: Outlays...................... 1,409.171 7,953.297 18,448.817 Revenue...................... 1,284.893 6,946.313 15,335.885 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ N/A = not applicable. Figures represent current law, including CBO's
February 2024 baseline and legislation that has subsequently cleared
Congress. PAY-AS-YOU-GO SCORECARD FOR THE SENATE [$ in billions] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Balances ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fiscal Year 2024........................................... 0 Fiscal Year 2025........................................... 0 Fiscal Years 2025-2029..................................... 0 Fiscal Years 2025-2034..................................... 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ACCOUNTS IDENTIFIED FOR ADVANCE APPROPRIATIONS (Pursuant to Section 122 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Financial Services and General Government: Payment to the Postal Service Fund Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education: Employment and Training Administration Education for the Disadvantaged School Improvement Programs Career, Technical, and Adult Education Special Education Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development: Tenant-based Rental Assistance Project-based Rental Assistance ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Mr. WHITEHOUSE. I will momentarily yield the floor.
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