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With a renewed commitment to fiscal responsibility, the U.S. House of Representatives will continue to build upon their progress to reign in government spending and lower the federal deficit this week. In the past few months, Congress has voted to provide $62.5 billion in emergency relief to the Gulf Coast area. With additional funding requests expected, it is necessary to find a responsible way to pay for that aid. The House is planning on considering The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 either this week or next. This legislation will identify additional savings and reform entitlement spending to account for the unexpected hurricane relief spending.
The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 includes savings recommendations from eight authorizing committees to achieve a net savings of $53.9 billion in mandatory spending programs. Thirty-five billion was designated in the FY06 conference report passed earlier this year. The additional savings reflects a commitment to making a down payment on disaster spending.
These recommendations also make a tremendous effort to reform entitlement spending, which is currently growing at almost six percent a year. Today, mandatory spending takes up 54 percent of the total federal budget. If the same spending continues, mandatory spending will consume 62 percent of our total budget in just a decade. The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 presents an opportunity to check the progress of entitlement programs. If left alone, eventually mandatory spending will crowd out all other priorities--such as education, veterans science, agriculture, environment, homeland security and defense.
It is important to remember that even in the wake of Hurricane Katrina the U.S. economy remains strong and the deficit continues to decline. Recent legislation implemented by Congress is working to create jobs and grow our economy. Even with the hurricane's effect, the GDP averaged 3.7 percent over the past eight quarters, and over 4.2 million new payroll jobs have been created in the past 28 months. On October 14, nearly six weeks after hurricane Katrina hit, the Office of Management and Budget released data showing a continued decline of the deficit to $19 billion for FY2005. I will continue to support these policies that show commitment to fiscal responsibility and spending restraint.
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