Press ReleaseNeutral2025-12-03

Ranking Member Scanlon’s Opening Statement at Subcommittee Hearing on Republicans’ Misguided Balanced Budget Amendment Push

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This press release from Representative Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) was published on 2025-12-03 and titled "Ranking Member Scanlon’s Opening Statement at Subcommittee Hearing on Republicans’ Misguided Balanced Budget Amendment P". It focuses on healthcare and touches on the economy, taxes.

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Ranking Member Scanlon’s Opening Statement at Subcommittee Hearing on Republicans’ Misguided Balanced Budget Amendment Push

Washington, D.C. — Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, today delivered opening remarks at a subcommittee hearing on Republicans’ misguided attempt to advance a balanced budget amendment, just as they add trillions of dollars to the national debt by gifting their billionaire buddies generous handouts on the backs of hardworking Americans. Below are Ranking Member Scanlon’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at today’s hearing. WATCH Ranking Member Scanlon’s opening statement. “Good morning, and thank you to our witnesses for testifying today. The decisions that Congress makes about the economy, about taxes, spending, and budgets, are, or should be, decisions about values—who we’re fighting for, what kind of country we are, or want to be, and the future we’re trying to create for our children. That brings us to the topic of today’s hearing, a balanced budget constitutional amendment—a misguided proposal about how to address the often competing values and interests that must be taken into account when crafting our national budget. Of course, we all share the goal of developing smart, efficient fiscal policy and budgets, but for decades, Republican presidents and members of Congress have talked a big game about “fiscal responsibility” while enacting policies that have exploded the federal deficit and the national debt. It wasn't that long ago, about 25 years, when under the Clinton administration the US had a balanced budget, fueled in part by a combination of tax increases, spending cuts and reduced military spending. But since then, in the early 2000s and again during the first Trump administration, Republicans have handed the ultrawealthy huge tax breaks, eroding the federal government’s revenue base and threatening our ability to fund essential programs that Americans rely on. Time and again, these policies have failed to produce the broader benefits for all Americans that the advocates of “trickle down economics” have promised. And instead, they exploded the deficit, adding $10 trillion to the national debt. Despite this, this summer Republicans once again doubled down, permanently extending tax giveaways to the wealthy in their One Big Ugly Bill, further expanding the deficit and ballooning the national debt. Now, after voting for that policy, our Republican colleagues think it’s time for them to turn around and make a show of caring about fiscal responsibility. But, don’t be fooled. Today’s hearing is just part of a decades-long, orchestrated political effort to help corporations and the wealthiest people avoid paying their fair share, a theory that tries to convince people that reckless tax giveaways to corporations and billionaires somehow stimulate investment and economic growth for everyone, for the greater good—a lie that’s been debunked again and again for more than 50 years, and one that’s led to sky-high income inequality and the enshrinement of a corporate oligarchy in our society. These tax policies, these giveaways, have fueled the greatest rise in income inequality that our country has ever known, resulting in a continuing transfer of wealth from working and middle class Americans to the wealthiest people in our country. And we need look no further than the fact that the top 1% in our country pay a lower tax rate than all other Americans. This pathological dedication to trickle-down economics is outrageous. It betrays the values that this country should stand for, and which our budgets should reflect. If we want to shrink the deficit and lower the nation’s debt, we should be talking about a tax policy that gives relief to working families and makes the rich and corporations pay their fair share, rather than allowing them to reap even more profits by imposing the costs of their businesses on the American people by paying substandard wages or poisoning the environment. This isn’t a radical idea. A tax policy that makes sure that everyone pays their fair share should be the starting point of any serious discussion about bringing the two sides of the budget equation: taxes and revenue on the one hand and spending, including military spending on the other. But, it takes a different kind of politics than what we’re hearing today—one that believes the purpose of government is to serve all Americans, not just the wealthy and well-connected. And the programs that our Republican colleagues have been only too ready to slash, in their Big Ugly Bill and with political scam “balanced budget amendment” they are pushing in this hearing, are critical to the health and well-being of the American people. The majority of our yearly spending is mandatory—that is, funds not subject to Congressional appropriations and which must be paid, including: Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, veterans’ benefits, and retirement programs for military service members and federal employees. These are vital programs that help our government keep

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Ranking Member Scanlon’s Opening Statement at Subcommittee Hearing on Republicans’ Misguided Balanced Budget Amendment Push Washington, D.C. — Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, today delivered opening remarks at a subcommittee hearing on Republicans’ misguided attempt to advance a balanced budget amendment, just as they add trillions of dollars to the national debt by gifting their billionaire buddies generous handouts on the backs of hardworking Americans. Below are Ranking Member Scanlon’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at today’s hearing. WATCH Ranking Member Scanlon’s opening statement. “Good morning, and thank you to our witnesses for testifying today. The decisions that Congress makes about the economy, about taxes, spending, and budgets, are, or should be, decisions about values—who we’re fighting for, what kind of country we are, or want to be, and the future we’re trying to create for our children. That brings us to the topic of today’s hearing, a balanced budget constitutional amendment—a misguided proposal about how to address the often competing values and interests that must be taken into account when crafting our national budget. Of course, we all share the goal of developing smart, efficient fiscal policy and budgets, but for decades, Republican presidents and members of Congress have talked a big game about “fiscal responsibility” while enacting policies that have exploded the federal deficit and the national debt. It wasn't that long ago, about 25 years, when under the Clinton administration the US had a balanced budget, fueled in part by a combination of tax increases, spending cuts and reduced military spending. But since then, in the early 2000s and again during the first Trump administration, Republicans have handed the ultrawealthy huge tax breaks, eroding the federal government’s revenue base and threatening our ability to fund essential programs that Americans rely on. Time and again, these policies have failed to produce the broader benefits for all Americans that the advocates of “trickle down economics” have promised. And instead, they exploded the deficit, adding $10 trillion to the national debt. Despite this, this summer Republicans once again doubled down, permanently extending tax giveaways to the wealthy in their One Big Ugly Bill, further expanding the deficit and ballooning the national debt. Now, after voting for that policy, our Republican colleagues think it’s time for them to turn around and make a show of caring about fiscal responsibility. But, don’t be fooled. Today’s hearing is just part of a decades-long, orchestrated political effort to help corporations and the wealthiest people avoid paying their fair share, a theory that tries to convince people that reckless tax giveaways to corporations and billionaires somehow stimulate investment and economic growth for everyone, for the greater good—a lie that’s been debunked again and again for more than 50 years, and one that’s led to sky-high income inequality and the enshrinement of a corporate oligarchy in our society. These tax policies, these giveaways, have fueled the greatest rise in income inequality that our country has ever known, resulting in a continuing transfer of wealth from working and middle class Americans to the wealthiest people in our country. And we need look no further than the fact that the top 1% in our country pay a lower tax rate than all other Americans. This pathological dedication to trickle-down economics is outrageous. It betrays the values that this country should stand for, and which our budgets should reflect. If we want to shrink the deficit and lower the nation’s debt, we should be talking about a tax policy that gives relief to working families and makes the rich and corporations pay their fair share, rather than allowing them to reap even more profits by imposing the costs of their businesses on the American people by paying substandard wages or poisoning the environment. This isn’t a radical idea. A tax policy that makes sure that everyone pays their fair share should be the starting point of any serious discussion about bringing the two sides of the budget equation: taxes and revenue on the one hand and spending, including military spending on the other. But, it takes a different kind of politics than what we’re hearing today—one that believes the purpose of government is to serve all Americans, not just the wealthy and well-connected. And the programs that our Republican colleagues have been only too ready to slash, in their Big Ugly Bill and with political scam “balanced budget amendment” they are pushing in this hearing, are critical to the health and well-being of the American people. The majority of our yearly spending is mandatory—that is, funds not subject to Congressional appropriations and which must be paid, including: Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, veterans’ benefits, and retirement programs for military service members and federal employees. These are vital programs that help our government keep