Joint Economic Committee hearing on Maximizing America’s Prosperity: How Fiscal Rules Can Restrain Federal Overspending

"The United States is on the precipice of a financial crisis because Washington spends too much relative to the size of our economy. Under President Obama, federal spending has grown far beyond the ability of our tax system to generate revenues from American families and businesses sufficient to pay for Washington’s overspending. The resulting large budget deficits are causing an unsustainable accumulation of federal debt.

Business investment in new buildings, equipment, and software drives job creation, not federal spending. Today, both large corporations and entrepreneurs are not investing because of uncertainty. They fear higher taxes and new burdensome regulations. Consequently, job creation is anemic, the unemployment rate remains stubbornly high, and American families are suffering...

Overspending cannot be cured by a so-called “balanced approach.” A study, Spend Less, Owe Less, Grow the Economy, published by JEC Republican staff on March 15, 2011, found that successful fiscal consolidations by our global competitors were composed of at least 85 percent spending reductions with additional revenues largely from non-tax sources such as asset sales. Balanced approaches that included both spending reductions and tax increases failed in other countries."


Vice Chairman
Kevin Brady's
Opening Statement


See Full Opening Statement Here