Jane Harman: “as the mother of lockbox, I rise in strong support of the Crapo lockbox amendment. I hope it will be enacted into law…”

“as the mother of lockbox, I rise in strong support of the Crapo lockbox amendment. I hope it will be enacted into law before I become a grandmother. As we have heard from the gentleman from Idaho, the lockbox has passed three times by overwhelming margins, and yet it languishes in the other body. During last year's appropriations debates, the House passed floor amendments totaling more than $350 billion, and those dollars did not go to deficit reduction, they were reprogrammed. I commend Mr. Crapo for including in his amendment the language offered by my colleague from Texas, Mr. Stenholm, and myself to the House-passed lockbox bill that captured outyear savings. Our amendment was supported by the Concord Coalition and the National Taxpayer Union, among others. It ensured that spending cuts in multiyear programs result in a reduction in the outyear discretionary spending caps, as well as the present year spending caps. Let me explain why such a provision is critical. On average, 95 percent of an agency's personnel funds are outlayed in the first fiscal year. By contrast, only 3.1 percent of funds for constructing military housing are outlayed in the first year. In the case of the Army, 12 percent is outlayed in year 2, 37 percent in year 3, and 24 percent in year 4. Thus, without an outyear savings provision, cutting $100 million out of fast-spending program like personnel may translate into a discretionary spending cut of $95 million.”