To the president violated the constitution . [shouting] the we the people are in charge of this country. [chanting] the people divided will never be [chanting] the People United will never be divided. [chanting] [chanting] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [chanting] [background sounds] [background sounds] [background sounds] [background sounds] [background sounds] [background sounds] [background sounds] [background sounds] [background sounds] [background sounds] [inaudible conversations] hes fighting a dirty campaign, promoting violence. [chanting] singing [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [background sounds] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [background sounds] [inaudible conversations] [chanting] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [background sounds] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [chanting] [chanting] [chanting] [chanting] [background sounds] [background sounds] [background sounds] [inaudible conversations] singing singing [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] a [inaudible conversations] i just want you to know you were doing a hell of a job. [background sounds] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [background sounds] [inaudible conversations] as for seeing all these people, on facebook, every time you go out there, honestly it bothers me because everybody is out here trying to hustle. Nobody is doing anything illegal by protesting here. Thats what were here for. We are here to better ourselves, to advance, be better. We cant speak properly or we dont have the awards, you know, were here to help each other out. [inaudible conversations] when i heard [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [background sounds] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] it would take either Justice Kennedy or the chief justice as i said, in fact chief justice said [inaudible] but you never know. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] a. And Justice Kennedy, for one, just as he [inaudible conversations] yo. Some of the scene outside the supreme court. They heard organize argument on president obamas actions on immigration. The court will be releasing the audio of the argument on friday. Well play it for you friday evening at 8 00 eastern time on the companion network, cspan. We head right across the street too capitol hill, a discussion on the congressional budget process. Well be hear from House Budget Committee chair, tom price, of georgia, followed bay conversation about longterm budget reforms, hosted by the commitow for a responsible federal budget, from the Rayburn House Office building. Live coverage right here on cspan2. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] here on capitol hill, discuss about to get underway on the congressional budget process. Well hear from Budget Committee chair, tom prize, followed by a conversation about longterm reforms, hosted by the committee for a responsible federal budget from the Rayburn House Office building, and then later tonight, more of cspans road to the out white house. With donald trump at 7 00 eastern time. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] okay, thank you, everybody. Welcome. I run the committee for responsible federal budget. Thanks very much for everybody who came today. A very good, expert audience. Were also we also have cspan live. Hello everybody again. Okay. So, we have cspan with us today live, which is terrific. We have a broad audience and thanks to everybody here. We have pretty much all the leading budget experts in the city in this room so very thrilled to have you with us. Our topic today is fixing the broken budget process. This is a topic that anybody who know this budget or the rules that guide it is familiar with it. Theres a whole another of improvement, whether thinking how hard to keep the budget on track and actually even get budgets done, to fiscal counties that arent always healthy for the country, to the fact that budgeting in our country is done in a way that is really very separate from any strategic economic thinking you might want to do. So whether its the small technical areas or the biggest, what the objective of a budget, question, theres a lot of improvement that has been in place for quite a number of decade without a really significant overhaul. We have great panel of experts today who are going to lead a discussion about a bunch of different topics, where to look for reforms. Im thrilled to introduce our keynote speaker today, dr. Price, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, who is not only shepherding the budget process along this year, but also doing some really deep and important think about reforms to the budget and what they might look like in terms of process. Im thrilled he joined us today to lead our discussion. Thank you very much. Dr. Price. Thank you. [applause] thank you, thank you. Thank you very much for the opportunity to be with you today and talk about something that is near and dear to everybodys heart, right . Budget reform. How exciting can it get. You know . Probably nothing could be more important and less exciting than budget process reform, so i want to thank all of you for coming out today to discuss and share your ideas. This incredibly important issue as we try to move forward with something that i think has a process right now that clearly is failing not just those participants in the process but failing the country, and that clearly needs to be reform. So its an exciting prospect for all of to us try to shape the way in which budget process reform moves forward. I also want to just commend the panelists who have spent incredible time and toil and labor in trying to assist folks in understand what the budget process is and either why it works or why it doesnt work, and theyve got some, i think, wonderful contributions to make today to this conversation. What id like to do is just kind of lay out where we are right now, what the challenge is, and do so in a way that hopefully highlights the reason for budget process reform, the need for budget process reform, and then talk about some of the things that can be done and split the way forward in terms of policy and process. The budget is most of you know does three things in congress. It sets the 302a number, the discretionary number. The number that the appropriators can spend to on the discretionary side for the next fiscal year. Lays out in the budget tenyear window, the vision for the challenges that we face. Whether its the majority budget or whether its the minority budget or another budget offered. Often times its used as an opportunity to say, this is how we would address the challenges that we face, and then finally, the third thing it does is something that isnt used terribly often but its an incredibly powerful tool and that is the whole issue of reconciliation. Reconciliation is is a process that allow this congress to address spending or revenue or debt in a way that doesnt make a whole lot of difference in the house to the process but in the senate it allows us to move a piece of legislation forward with just a simple majority. Doesnt require a super majority so you can get around the 60vote margin in the senate in a very, very important thing. So, pretty straightforward. Right . Ought to be easy to do. Right . Last year, we passed a budget that balances within a tenyear period of time and agreed to it with the senate, that doesnt raise taxes and gets us on the path for paying off the debt. For the first time in 14 years. First time in 14 years. So if youre keeping track on a score card now, thats one reason the first time in 14 years that we need budget process reform, and well go through some others. But its a red letter date here in congress when we do Something Like that. It ought not be. It ought to be something we do every single year. Folks at home do balance their budget every year, and their businesses they balance and it their communities and places of work or worship to make certain that theyre on track and they correct the course if they arent. For those who are observant of the process youll recognize this was the fifth year straight that the house of representatives passed a budget that balances within a tenyear period of time, routh waying tacks, gets on a path to paying off the debt. So the very cogent and curious among you will say, okay, how much closer are you to balancing the budget, paying off the debt, and getting to getting those programs reformed as we move forward. The answer is, not that much closer, if at all. And the reason that i would suggest to you that were not that much closer is, again, another rope we ought to have budget process reform, because the budget enforcement, the thing that is able to allow to us make certain that the Congress Follows a budget that is adopted, is extremely weak, extreme he week and well talk about the things cat can be done. Thats evidence this is ineffectual process . You all have your long list, im certain, but lets tick through a few of them. The debt, 19 plus trillion dollars in dead. 76 of Gross Domestic Product from debt to gdp ratio, which wouldnt we necessarily that bad if we were moving down, but in fact were moving up. Congressional Budget Office has projected that by the end of that tenyear window, 86 debt to gdp ratio, and continuing to rise. So, were not addressing the challenge of debt. Deficits. We had about 130 billion increase in deficit from last year to this year, about 544 billion that was revised downward a little bit recently by cbo, but stale significant increase from last year. Thats the annual deficit. What gets added to the debt and then increases that 19 trillion number. Growth in the economy. We have seen significant decrease in growth over the last number of years, and the projections arent comfortable for the vast majority of the pub. The average growth rate in our economy has been 3 , 3. 2 . Annualized growth, thats the kind of growth it takes to continue to keep the economy moving and jobs being created in and the like. A projection by the congressional Budget Office now is 2. 1re annualized growth. A 3035 reduction in the rate of growth in our economy. The interest on the debt, were paying 235 billion each year on interest on the 19 trillion in debt, and thats at relatively low interest rates, as you all well know. The projection within a tenyear period of time is that we approach over hundred billion in payment interest on the debt each year, approaching a trillion dollars, a trillion dollars. What difference does all that make . Why do the numbers make any difference . I guess thats another thing id like you to take home and that is that these arent just numbers on a page. These are numbers that affect real lives and real people across our great land. So that every dollar spent in covering the interest costs is a dollar that cant be used to buy a car to pay the rent to buy a house, to send a kid to school, to start a business to expand the business, all the things that the American People say they want are harmed by the fiscal situation that we find ourselves in, that i would suggest is a result partly, if not large part, of the budget process that we have right now. So, thats another reason that its important to move toward budget process reform. The larger picture of governance, the power of the purse and the like, is must be talk about always. Theres a sense across this land that the power of the purse has wands, the executive branch has assumed more and more authority over the past number of years through both republican and democratic administrations. The power of the purse is incredibly important. James madison wrote, this power of the purse may in fact be regarded at the most complete and effect to all weapon with any constitution and rep advertise of the people for obtaining a redress of every grievance and for carrying into effect every just measure. What does that mean sniff the folks close toast the people, the representatives of the people, do not have in their armament, in their quiver, the kind of opportunities to be able to hold the government to account to be able to make certain that the hardearned taxpayer dollars out there arent going for things that the constituents, the citizens dont want, they cant use that power, then its no longer the power of the purse, and consequently i suggest we find ourselves where we are right now. So, what the way forward . From a policy side, to get things at a better fiscal situation, from having the numbers look better on paper, you can basically do three things. You can raise taxes to increase revenue to the federal government. That happens its a pelt project of our friends on the other side of the aisle. Tends to increase revenue to the federal government for a short time and then decreases because it decreases the Economic Activity out there. You can decrease spending, which tends to be what we believe ought to be the most appropriate way to proceed from a tax and spending standpoint, and that helps, but let me suggest to you that this congress has done a pretty dog gone good job of holding Discretionary Spending down over the last five years. In fact were spend only the discretionary side, less right now than in 2008. Thats flat line on total discretion snaer spending between 2008 and now. The total spending occurring at the federal government level is increase because of the mandatory spending, and well talk about that in a minute. The third ways to grow the economy. Is to get that 2. 1 number up to the 3 or more percent number. Every 0. 1 growth in the economy results in a 325 billion flux the deficit. Every 0. 1 increase in growth results in 325 billion reduction in the deficit, which means if we grew at just 3. 1 , it is likely that we would decrease the deficit over the next ten years by over 3 trillion. Thats real money, real money that is staying in peoples pockets as opposed to coming to washington to Fund Programs or to pay the interest on that debt. But let me suggest that the kinds of things i just was talking about are the symptoms of a broader problem and that problem is the process that we utilize to budget and to spend money here in washington. So i want to talk about budget process reform and the specific topic that will be addressed by the panelists here. We budget in this country under the 74 budget act, which was written 42 years ago, written by a lot of folks who were wellmeaning but the effect of the budget act has been in essence to spend more and to grow government, and i would suggest to you that thats no longer the premise upon which we ought to budget. We ought to have a default that spends less and decreases the size of government if we dont do our job. Right now, if congress doesnt do its job, then the spending continues. In fact it increases more and more and more. So, let me talk about let me raise some fundamental questions for budget process reform, and the Budget Committee in the house of representatives is going to be going through a process over the next number of months to come forward with a piece of legislation that will bring about what our goal is, a complete rewrite of the 74 budget act so that we have a default at that time actually spends less and decreases the size of government if congress is unable to or its not possible to get them to do their job. Get us to do our job. What are some fundamental questions we need answer . First, why is the majority of spending unable to be reached . Wespent 3. 8 trillion each year in this nation right now, about twothirds of that is on the mandatory side. Onethird is the discretionary side. Twothirds is the mandatory side. The automatic spending, medicare, medicaid, Social Security, interest on the debt and other mandatory programs. Those are the programs that continue to grow and grow and grow unLess Congress and the president , congress and the administration, are able to reach an agreement about how to reform them. That might not be all bad if it werent for the fact that the majority of those programs are going broke. Medicare, Social Security, other mandatory programs, unsustainable. At home i get this all the time. People say, arent those programs unsustainable . I says yes. Think about what you just said . That means they will not be sustained. Means theyre not going to continue. And so we believe that its irresponsible and reckless not to address these unsustainable programs. So we believe its important to lay out a path for saving and strengthening and securing met compare and medicaid and Social Security. But the budget itself doesnt isnt able to touch those. Thats on the mandatory side of the budget. The number the only thing that is able to be enforced on the budget side is that 302a, that discretionary number. What bet the unauthorized programs . We have a process right now would the majority of nondefense Discretionary Spending in this country, the majority, over 300 billion each year, is unauthorized. That means that the committees in the congress have not said to the appropriators you ought to spend money on this. This is a priority. You ought to spend money on this. In fact they havent done most of them are programs that have lapsed but significant programs, like the state department, for example, an unauthorized department. Cant not appropriate money for the state department, but we ought toed a least make certain that congress is looking at the spending thats going to the state department year after year after year and holding them