Jim Jordan: Supercommittee should cut, cap, balance and grow

Through my efforts on the House Budget Committee and the Republican Study Committee, I have been in the fortunate position to learn as much about the federal budget as just about anyone in Congress.

Unfortunately, the more I see, the more I am troubled by what lies ahead. To that end, I have used my recent speaking and town hall engagements across our district to express my growing concern with the financial future of the country.

Without dwelling on who caused the problems or trying to lay blame, I am urging Congress to take bold action in this narrow window of time we have remaining to address the problem.

To fix the budget, we need economic growth. For our economy to grow, we must first restore accountability and fundamentally change Washington by cutting unnecessary spending and balancing the budget.

The federal government has enough money to fulfill its responsibilities. Even in this economic downturn, federal revenues remain near their historical average as a percentage of the economy as a whole.

The problem in Washington that hurts our economy is too much spending. Federal spending is out-of-control, leaving us with big debts that require massive borrowing from places like China and the Middle East. Americans from all walks of life are rightly concerned about this, and about who is going to pay back all of this money the politicians have borrowed.

As Congress worked to address the debt ceiling issue in early August, I was excited about the prospect of enacting the type of fundamental reform that would finally get Washington's spending under control.

The plan I helped write, called “Cut, Cap and Balance”, would have cut our deficit in half immediately, putting us on track to balance the budget within a few years. It would have statutorily capped federal spending, forcing Congress to set priorities and begin paying down the national debt. Finally, it would have sent a Balanced Budget Amendment to the states for ratification, a step I have come to believe is necessary to rein in a Congress that spends like there is no tomorrow.

Our plan was designed to make sure this was the last time America would ever have to raise its debt ceiling.

A Cut, Cap and Balance plan passed the House with bipartisan support, but was later blocked and replaced with a 12-member Congressional “supercommittee” which is currently considering a combination of spending cuts and tax increases to reduce the deficit.

It is ill-advised to raise taxes during a recession. Even President Obama agreed with that at one point, when back in August 2009 he said that “the last thing you want to do” in a recession is raise taxes.

Besides hurting our competitiveness, raising taxes asks hard-working Americans to trust Congress and the White House with more of their money. Really?

I am asking the supercommittee to consider a new and improved idea that I like to call “Cut, Cap, Balance and Grow.”

The Cut, Cap and Balance parts remain the same as described above. The growth component provides job-creating reforms in the areas of taxes, regulation, and energy policy.

Our tax reform plan would allow taxpayers to choose between the current tax code or a simpler tax code with only two rates. It would also make business taxes simpler and more competitive, and would encourage companies with dollars held overseas to bring the money home and invest it here in America.

Our bill places a moratorium on new job-killing regulations, effectively stopping Congress and the White House from adding tens of thousands of pages of new federal regulations on businesses each year to an administrative code that already fills several bookshelves. New and unpredictable federal regulations make small business owners uneasy about the economy. Those who are ready to invest, hire and expand will take great comfort in Congress hitting the pause button on new regulations.

You can't have a strong economy without access to cheap, reliable energy. Our energy reform component would move us toward energy independence by removing the barriers to our being able to access more energy sources under American soil.

The details of this plan, called the Jobs Through Growth Act, are available on our website, rsc.jordan.house.gov.

Sending more money to Washington is not the answer. That will simply lead to more wasteful spending by Congress.

Americans deserve better than an out-of-control government that does not respect their hard-earned tax dollars. The only thing Americans hate more than paying high taxes is the feeling that the taxes they pay are being wasted. A bold move like “Cut, Cap, Balance and Grow” will put power back in the hands of the hard-working taxpayers who pay the bills.

I think it is time to say “enough is enough”. The window of opportunity is short, and the time is now. I stand ready to help the president and leaders from both parties do the tough work needed to get the country back on track and get our economy moving again. Not more of the same old “business as usual”, but rather a bold change that makes the changes we need.