Fiscal Responsibility

The Blue Dog Coalition has a long history of leadership in addressing the nation’s fiscal challenges, and the members will continue to build on that record of accomplishment by advancing commonsense, middle-of-the-road policies to put the country back on a path to long-term fiscal sustainability.
 

113th Congress:

The Blue Dog Coalition remains fully committed to working with Republicans and Democrats to find a solution that reduces our long-term federal debt and deficits in a balanced, bipartisan fashion and in a way in which we do not stall our nation’s fragile economic recovery. 
 
In March 2013, the House of Representatives voted on a number of partisan budget proposals introduced by the Republican majority. At the time, Blue Dog Co-Chair for Communications, Rep. Kurt Schrader of Oregon, issued the following statement:
 
“This week members of the House of Representatives only had the option to vote on partisan budgets. Yet, we know that the only path to real fiscal reform will come through bipartisan compromise.” said Rep. Schrader. “After garnering strong disapproval of the Ryan budget from the American people, Blue Dogs had hoped that the Republican majority would begin to work across the aisle on a big, bold deficit reduction package that could pass in a divided Congress. Now that these partisan budget exercises are behind us we urge the President and Congressional leadership to finally get serious on a bipartisan plan that reduces our deficits, provides long-term economic certainty, and puts our country back on a path to fiscal sustainability.”
 
In April 2013, the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition formally endorsed a House resolution introduced by Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) urging the Speaker of the House to follow regular order, request a budget conference with the Senate and appoint conferees.
 

112th Congress:

2011 Blue Dog Benchmarks for Fiscal Reform
 
The Blue Dogs have adopted the Blue Dog Benchmarks for Fiscal Reform, an aggressive set of targets for long-term fiscal reform and deficit reduction that includes cutting the deficit by $4 trillion over the next 10 years, with the largest deficit cuts in history by 2014. 
  • Largest deficit cuts in history by 2014
  • Cut the deficit by $4 trillion over the next 10 years
  • Stabilize the debt and maintain a debt ratio to 60 percent of GDP by 2024
  • Return to 2008 spending levels by 2013
  • Reduce the deficit to 2.3 percent of GDP in 4 years
  • Reduce the size of government
  • Achieve deficit reduction with 2/3 spending cuts, 1/3 tax reform
  • Everything must be on the table:
    • Discretionary Spending Cuts – both security and non-security
    • Tax Reform
    • Entitlement Reform
    • Other Mandatory Policies
    • Process Reforms 

​2010 Blue Dog Blueprint for Fiscal Reform

Our underlying structural deficits are the biggest threat to our economic security today.  As independent voices for fiscal responsibility and accountability, the Blue Dogs recognize that it’s time to change the way Washington operates and begin working together in earnest to develop solutions to these systemic problems. With the 2010 Blue Dog Blueprint for Fiscal Reform the Blue Dogs put forth a real proposal to put the country back on a path to balanced budgets and long term fiscal sustainability.
 
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Blue Dogs Release Blueprint for Fiscal Reform

WASHINGTON—Today, members of the Blue Dog Coalition released a comprehensive plan to help restore fiscal discipline in Congress. The Blue Dog Blueprint for Fiscal Reform outlines an extensive list of priorities that help reduce our budget deficits and begin to bring down our national debt. Today, the national debt is more than $22 trillion—an unprecedented amount. On the current path, next year, the federal government will spend more servicing interest on the debt than all federal funding that supports children in the United States.

Blue Dog Leadership Praises Speaker Pelosi’s Support for PAYGO

WASHINGTON—Today, Blue Dog Co-Chair for Communications, Rep. Lou Correa (CA-46), issued the following statement in response to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s remarks at the Peter G. Peterson Foundation’s 2019 Fiscal Summit, where she reaffirmed her support for the bipartisan Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) rule, which requires Congress to pay for new priorities:

 

Blue Dogs Call on Leadership to Abide by PAYGO

WASHINGTON—Today, the Blue Dog Coalition sent a letter to House Democratic leadership calling for leadership to abide by the bipartisan Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) rule, which requires Congress to pay for new priorities. Specifically, the Coalition requested that leadership only designate items on the Consensus Calendar for consideration under a process that does not waive other House rules, including those that are intended to keep our fiscal house in order.

 

Moderate Democrats Back Balanced-Budget Amendment, Countering Liberals

A group of moderate House Democrats is proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution as they try to further distance themselves from the party’s progressive wing, which is backing big boosts in spending for social programs and infrastructure.

 

The move by the so-called Blue Dog Coalition adds to tension over ideology and priorities among Democrats as the House prepares to vote this week on legislation that would add $350 billion in deficit spending over the next two years.

 

ICYMI: Blue Dog Task Force on Fiscal Responsibility & Government Reform Calls on Budget Committee to Address the Debt

WASHINGTON—Yesterday, the Co-Chairs of the Blue Dog Coalition’s Task Force on Fiscal Responsibility and Government Reform—Reps. Ed Case (HI-01) and Ben McAdams (UT-04)—delivered remarks before the House Budget Committee to draw attention to the national debt and call for a fiscally-responsible budget.

 

You can watch the full remarks by Rep. Ed Case here and Rep. Ben McAdams here.

 

CNN Opinion: Blue Dog Leadership Calls on Democrats to Embrace Fiscal Discipline

WASHINGTON—Today, in an exclusive CNN Opinion editorial, the co-chairs of the Blue Dog Coalition—Reps. Anthony Brindisi (NY-22), J. Luis Correa (CA-46), Stephanie Murphy (FL-07), and Tom O’Halleran (AZ-01)—pointed out President Trump’s failure to mention the nation’s looming fiscal crisis during last week’s State of the Union address.

House Passes Measure to Restore Bipartisan PAYGO Rules

WASHINGTON—Today, the House passed H. Res. 6, A Resolution Providing for the House Rules of the 116th Congress, which included a measure restoring the bipartisan Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) rules. PAYGO requires that both mandatory spending and tax cuts must be offset to prevent increasing the national debt. The last time PAYGO was in place was 2010, when the Blue Dog Coalition worked with Democratic Leadership to restore the rules to ensure the government does not spend beyond its means.

 

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