Sep 08 2011
Organizational Meeting
Room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building
Representative Pat Toomey
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) today gave the following opening statement at the first formal meeting of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, commonly known as the super committee:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I think several of my colleagues have addressed the magnitude of this problem. I think we all understand that it is huge. It is my hope that our response will be commensurate. The fiscal mess that we are in now threatens our livelihoods, our prosperity, opportunity and even our national security. But we have an extraordinary opportunity to do something about it. To begin to put our government on a sustainable fiscal path, and to do it in a way that will encourage economic growth and the job creation that we all know we badly need.
I think the challenge calls for a bold response. You know, we could choose to just nibble around the edges of this problem and just look for redundant programs and obsolete programs, and we need to do that. We need to find them. They're out there, and it might even be that they'll add up to one and a half trillion dollars, which is our statutory goal. But if that's all we do then I would suggest, as I think Senator Portman observed, that we really wouldn't be doing all that is necessary to put us on a pro-growth and sustainable path.
If we're truly going to meet the challenge that we face, I think we do need to address the big entitlement programs that we all know are driving this fiscal problem. And we all know that's not easy. It's not easy for any of us to do that. We've all got many constituents who rely on these programs. It means that we'd have to make some real changes, but we can do it in a way that protects the vulnerable members of our society that we want to protect, and still put these programs on a viable, sustainable path. We can only do it if we do it in a bipartisan fashion. That's a big opportunity for us.
The other thing that we've got to do is maximize economic growth and job creation. Let me just underscore, if we can find a way to create policies that will encourage annual growth to expand just one percent per year faster than it otherwise would, that alone generates three trillion dollars in additional revenue over ten years. Three trillion dollars in smaller deficits, three trillion dollars less in debt and millions of additional jobs, if we can foster stronger economic growth.
How do we do that? Well, I would observe number one cutting spending and reducing the deficit is itself pro-growth because it removes the chilling effect that excessive deficits have on job creators and investment. But the other big opportunity for us is tax reform. You know a simpler, fairer system that has lower marginal rates would encourage economic growth and will go a long way to helping this problem. I think our tax code is a national embarrassment. Both parties are guilty of getting it to the point of where it is now.
Examples abound: we have ethanol credits that are bad economic, bad agriculture, bad tax policy. We use the tax code to force Americans to pay more for inefficient sources of electricity; that cost us jobs. And when huge iconic American corporations can pay little or no income taxes, well that's just indefensible. So I think we ought to wipe out those special interest favors, have commensurately lower rates, encourage the economic growth that will generate more revenue, generate more jobs. Mr. Chairman, it's a very big challenge that we face. I hope we will rise to the occasion.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I think several of my colleagues have addressed the magnitude of this problem. I think we all understand that it is huge. It is my hope that our response will be commensurate. The fiscal mess that we are in now threatens our livelihoods, our prosperity, opportunity and even our national security. But we have an extraordinary opportunity to do something about it. To begin to put our government on a sustainable fiscal path, and to do it in a way that will encourage economic growth and the job creation that we all know we badly need.
I think the challenge calls for a bold response. You know, we could choose to just nibble around the edges of this problem and just look for redundant programs and obsolete programs, and we need to do that. We need to find them. They're out there, and it might even be that they'll add up to one and a half trillion dollars, which is our statutory goal. But if that's all we do then I would suggest, as I think Senator Portman observed, that we really wouldn't be doing all that is necessary to put us on a pro-growth and sustainable path.
If we're truly going to meet the challenge that we face, I think we do need to address the big entitlement programs that we all know are driving this fiscal problem. And we all know that's not easy. It's not easy for any of us to do that. We've all got many constituents who rely on these programs. It means that we'd have to make some real changes, but we can do it in a way that protects the vulnerable members of our society that we want to protect, and still put these programs on a viable, sustainable path. We can only do it if we do it in a bipartisan fashion. That's a big opportunity for us.
The other thing that we've got to do is maximize economic growth and job creation. Let me just underscore, if we can find a way to create policies that will encourage annual growth to expand just one percent per year faster than it otherwise would, that alone generates three trillion dollars in additional revenue over ten years. Three trillion dollars in smaller deficits, three trillion dollars less in debt and millions of additional jobs, if we can foster stronger economic growth.
How do we do that? Well, I would observe number one cutting spending and reducing the deficit is itself pro-growth because it removes the chilling effect that excessive deficits have on job creators and investment. But the other big opportunity for us is tax reform. You know a simpler, fairer system that has lower marginal rates would encourage economic growth and will go a long way to helping this problem. I think our tax code is a national embarrassment. Both parties are guilty of getting it to the point of where it is now.
Examples abound: we have ethanol credits that are bad economic, bad agriculture, bad tax policy. We use the tax code to force Americans to pay more for inefficient sources of electricity; that cost us jobs. And when huge iconic American corporations can pay little or no income taxes, well that's just indefensible. So I think we ought to wipe out those special interest favors, have commensurately lower rates, encourage the economic growth that will generate more revenue, generate more jobs. Mr. Chairman, it's a very big challenge that we face. I hope we will rise to the occasion.