John Boehner, April 7, 2006

When the check comes every April 15th, many Americans sit scratching their heads wondering where all of that money goes. After all, is it possible that with annual revenue of well over $2 trillion (and climbing each year), the federal government can still find itself in the red?

Amazingly, the answer is yes. Driven by the ever-increasing costs of entitlement programs and the explosion in earmarked projects, the federal budget is a mess. This is why Republicans in Congress are crafting a budget for Fiscal Year 2007 that builds on our recent efforts to control spending, efforts such as the Deficit Reduction Act that trimmed federal spending by $40 billion. Coupled with a growing economy fueled by recent tax cuts, this budget will help make real progress in driving down the deficit.

The proposed FY 2007 budget holds the line on non-security spending, highlights common sense reforms that make government programs more effective, and identifies examples of wasteful spending that can be zeroed out. When any given American family faces a financial crunch, they cut back, eliminate needless or frivolous expenses, and focus on making their dollars stretch as far as they can. The federal government must do the same, and that’s what this budget aims to do.

Not only have we taken big steps towards rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in federal programs, the FY 2007 budget proposal will include reforms to ensure Congress better budgets for emergencies through a "rainy day" fund -- a measure I’ve long advocated. Emergencies that require a national response are inevitable. As the recent series of hurricanes in the Gulf Coast have demonstrated, Congress needs to better plan for these types of large expenditures on a year-to-year basis.

Now, there are some who oppose this budget because they don’t think it spends enough on this program or that program. Many simultaneously believe that it doesn’t do enough to tackle the budget deficit, and as a solution suggest that we "roll back" recent tax cuts -- i.e., raise taxes. But that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense if your goal is to shrink the deficit and expand the economy. Here’s why:

In the years since the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 and the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004 became law, more than 5.1 million new jobs have been created. 211,000 new jobs were created last month alone, and the unemployment rate dipped to 4.7 percent, below the average of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Annual tax revenue to the federal government is consistently increasing at a rate above ten percent. According to the Department of the Treasury, "federal revenues for Fiscal Year 2005 totaled $2.15 trillion -- the highest level ever." That’s an increase of nearly 15 percent over 2004.

In other words, the federal government doesn’t have a revenue problem -- it has a spending problem. And the fact is, tax relief encourages business investment, business investment leads to significant job growth, and robust job growth leads to a more prosperous America for working families. It’s that simple.

This is why we have proposed a fiscally-responsible FY 2007 budget plan to ensure Congress spends America’s taxpayer dollars wisely. As House Majority Leader, I remain committed to working with all members of Congress to reach an agreement on the budget so we can move forward by the end of April. Good fiscal policy is within our grasp, and will be realized with a fiscally-responsible budget and real institutional reforms.

Congressman John Boehner is the House Majority Leader. Boehner, a Republican, represents Ohio's Eighth Congressional District, which includes Miami, Butler, Preble, Darke, and Mercer Counties.