|
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
GAO's Walker Hammers Congress on Tax Cuts
During an event entitled "The Future America Can't Afford" last Monday, U.S. Comptroller General David Walker continued his harsh criticism of Congress' poor stewardship of the government's fiscal health. The event was sponsored by the Brookings Institution, the Heritage Foundation, and the National Press Foundation.
Walker opened the event by urging Congress to reconsider the extension of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts in light of the current fiscal environment. "We can’t afford to make all the tax cuts permanent,” Walker said. He also supported the reinstatement of true pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) rules and an automatic disclosure of the long-term costs of proposed spending and tax legislation in order to ensure an honest and transparent debate in Congress. These are both excellent ideas and should have been in place long ago in Congress.
Luckily for the Senate, they will have the opportunity to enact those very budget control measures this week as Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Kent Conrad (D-ND) has offered an amendment to the budget reconciliation that would reinstitute true PAYGO rules. These rules were rejected by the narrowest of margins this past March when Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) offered them as an amendment to the original budget resolution agreement.
Posted by Adam Hughes
|