Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler (MO-04) joined over 60 Members of Congress in urging congressional leadership to ensure future COVID-19 legislation not only addresses needs regarding the pandemic but also takes steps to reduce our national debt. Hartzler issued the following statement addressing her choice to join the effort:

“Congress has already spent over $3 trillion dollars over the last few months in response to COVID-19, marking the costliest legislation ever passed in American history. As we move forward in addressing these evolving challenges, we must ensure that we address the economic repercussions on our families and businesses and protect future generations from fiscal calamity,” Hartzler said.

The lawmakers are pushing for any new COVID-19 legislation to include budget reform measures that create transparency, accountability, and responsibility surrounding our increasing national debt and put us on a path to fiscal responsibility. Specific proposals include:

Transparency:  Encouraging congressional leadership to require an annual report on our nation’s fiscal health and distribute the information to our employers—the American people—to shine the light on the debt crisis.

Accountability:  Establishing bipartisan, bicameral committees to develop substantive proposals to protect and preserve Social Security, Disability Insurance, and Highway programs for future generations.

Responsibility:  Establishing budgetary goals to reduce the debt and ensure our budget gets on a responsible path. Borrowing today, although necessary, must be accompanied with solutions to reduce our debt moving forward.

“I, along with my colleagues, urge congressional leadership to include safeguards to address debt reduction and budget reform in any future COVID-19 response legislation. This will allow our country’s economy to be restored, our workforce to be protected, and children and grandchildren success in the future,” Hartzler said.

A copy of the letter text can be found below:

Dear Speaker Pelosi and Leader McCarthy:

We, a bipartisan group of representatives, remain committed to fighting the pandemic and the economic downturn to help the American people through this hardship. The unemployment rate is nearly 15%, and GDP could fall as much as 30%.

We must confront the economic fallout from this crisis head on. As the crisis recedes and our nation recovers, we cannot ignore the pressing issue of the national debt, which could do irreparable damage to our country. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the debt held by the public is likely to exceed 100 percent of GDP in just a few months, and it will hit record levels in a few years. In addition, trust funds for some of our most critical programs will face exhaustion far sooner than we expected as a result of the current crisis. Trust fund insolvency threatens serious hardship for those who depend on the programs.

We, therefore, respectfully request that further pandemic-response legislation include provisions for future budget reforms to ensure we confront these issues when the economy is strong enough. These reforms should have broad, bipartisan support.

They should not stand in the way of our making the necessary decisions to deal with the crisis at hand. They should ensure that, in addition to addressing health and economic needs, we lay the foundation for a sustainable fiscal future by building on reforms with established bipartisan support.

First, we must have common ground on the facts and keep this issue in our deliberations. The Fiscal State of the Nation resolution would increase the transparency of our fiscal situation by requiring GAO to present an annual report to Congress and the country detailing the fiscal health of the nation.

Second, we must create mechanisms to help Congress demonstrate greater accountability in navigating the decisions to restore our fiscal health and sustainability. Trust funds for Social Security, Disability Insurance, Medicare Hospital Insurance, and Highway programs face insolvency, now possibly all within a decade.

Enacting a consensus process like the Time to Rescue United States Trusts (TRUST) Act would create special bipartisan, bicameral rescue committees to give these programs the priority and urgency they deserve. Other commission structures, such as those from the Sustainable Budget Act or the Budget Control Act’s joint select committee, provide models for a comprehensive fiscal agreement. Third, the federal debt is growing at an alarming pace.

Though emergency borrowing is necessary now, we must have a credible plan for responsibility to bring the debt burden to sustainable levels as the pandemic recedes and the economy recovers. We support a process for establishing overall budgetary goals—such as debt-to-GDP targets—that would reduce debt limit brinkmanship as long as the budget remains on a responsible path. Including budget reforms like these with any further pandemic-response legislation would put in place a plan to make sure that as we address our nation’s health and economic concerns, we will deal with our debt challenges at the appropriate time as well.

As the first branch of government, Congress can and must address current needs while planning for tomorrow. These bipartisan options can help us come together—as Americans—to build a brighter, more resilient future. We urge you to include them in the next pandemic response legislation. We stand ready and willing to work with you.

For further information, contact Danny Jativa in the Washington, D.C. office at 202-225-2876 or at danny.jativa@mail.house.gov.

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