Jim Ramstad: “one of the most fraudulent budget practices of Congress is being exposed today. In the Kasich budget, Republicans…”

“one of the most fraudulent budget practices of Congress is being exposed today. In the Kasich budget, Republicans adopted legislation introduced by Representative Cox and me, to eliminate the so-called current services budget baseline. Later, the committee incorporated a similar provision into its budget. That is progress. For the first time, Congress has admitted that baseline budgeting is deceptive and should go. We all know the game. Under the present system, Congress builds an automatic increase into each Government spending program every year by adding the rate on inflation, population growth and various technical factors. Any time a spending increase does not reach the new baseline, it is called a cut by the politicians in Washington. As Lee Iacocca said recently, "If we did that in business, they would lock us up." Congress uses this accounting deception to claim it is cutting a specific program while actually increasing spending. It is time for the deception to end and to run the Federal Government like a business. Mr. Chairman, today's action is a positive first step. I thank the 122 cosponsors of my bill, from both sides of the aisle, for their support. Now, let us get rid of baseline budgeting once and for all.”