John Kerry: “the amendment before us, the Gregg- Feingold-Chafee-Kerry Budget Enforcement Act of 2002, is critical to restoring a…”

“the amendment before us, the Gregg- Feingold-Chafee-Kerry Budget Enforcement Act of 2002, is critical to restoring a sense of fiscal responsibility to the congressional budget process. I urge my colleagues to support it. The amendment reinstates and extends for 5 years the caps on discretionary spending, keyed to the levels in the Senate Budget Committee-passed budget resolution. The caps are scheduled to expire at the end of fiscal year 2002. The amendment also reinstates and extends for 5 years the pay-as-you-go rules for tax cuts and entitlement changes. The pay-as-you-go rule would apply to legislation which increases the non-Social Security budget deficit. The rule would not apply when the budget is running a surplus outside of Social Security. Sixty-vote points of order and the threat of sequestration would continue to provide enforcement for both the discretionary caps and pay-as-you-go violations. To guard against budget evasions, the amendment would shut back-door ways around the caps and pay-as-you-go enforcement by requiring 60 votes to change the discretionary caps, alter the balances of the pay- as-you-go scorecard, or direct scorekeeping. All emergency designations would require 60 votes. I was one of the first cosponsors of the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings deficit reduction legislation in the late 1980s. I understand the importance of fiscal responsibility and budget discipline.…”