Larry Craig: “with all its lack of enforcement, lack of definitions, lack of legislative history, and explicit exemptions, the Reid…”

“with all its lack of enforcement, lack of definitions, lack of legislative history, and explicit exemptions, the Reid amendment is more loophole than law. The National Taxpayers Union rapidly put together an analysis of the Reid amendment showing how much deficit spending it would, on its face, allow. In the year 2001, the first year in which the real balanced budget amendment would be effective, and the first year in which the Reid amendment would be ineffective, the deficit under our amendment would be zero, while the Reid amendment would allow "off-budget" deficit spending of up to $200 billion. By the year 2020, the Reid amendment would allow deficits of between about $200 billion and $800 billion. By the year 2050, which year is included in the projections of the Social Security trustees, Reid amendment off-budget deficits would range from about $2.7 trillion to $6.3 trillion. These estimates count total investment spending as shown in the President's fiscal year 1995 budget and are based on alternatives II and III in the "1993 Annual Report of the Federal Old Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance Trust Fund." I want to emphasize: These are the off-budget deficits that the Reid amendment explicitly allows: These projections assume that Congress does not abuse the loopholes that the Reid amendment would give it. This is the best-case scenario under the Reid amendment.”