Mark Kirk: “we must hold forecasters accountable for the accuracy of their projections. As we are asking for straight A performance…”

“we must hold forecasters accountable for the accuracy of their projections. As we are asking for straight A performance out of our public schools, we must also ask that out of our budget forecasters. We want better and more efficient use of energy resources. As Secretary Rumsfeld is completing a comprehensive overall of our defense network, how can we expect anything less than continuous improvement from the way that we prepare the Federal budget? And we have a long way to go. Everyone I talk to in Washington assumes that budget forecasts we use are setting priorities that are wrong; that they can be way off the mark; that we never are able to estimate correctly what our financial status is. In 1997, the Congressional Budget Office estimated a $145 billion deficit for fiscal year 1998. We had a surplus of $69 billion. In 1999, CBO predicted a $107 billion surplus for fiscal year 2000, $129 billion below the actual $236 billion achieved. You can see it here on chart number one, where CBO estimates a $211 billion deficit, it was only $107. Then a $156 billion deficit, it was only 22. The biggest year they made a mistake was 1998; they forecast a $145 billion deficit. We ran a $69 billion surplus. And on and on the errors have gone. Mr. Speaker, this is no way to fill our elected mandate of keeping the economy strong. There is more at stake than the issue of whose numbers are right.”