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April 2014

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April 2014 | Construction Equipment Distribution | www.cedmag.com | 45 View From the Hill Biennial Budgeting: The Case for a Much-Needed Upgrade Already used by 20 states, a two-year federal budgeting cycle allows for more responsible planning and spending. For too long, Washington has stumbled from budget crisis to budget crisis. Government shut- downs, short-term spending bills and an ad-hoc oversight process have corrupted our nation's ability to budget effectively, creating unwanted uncertainty in our economy. Many of our problems stem from Congress consistently failing to pass an annual budget and spending bills. Every year, Congress is required by law to pass a budget. Congress is also required to pass 12 different spending bills to ensure federal departments and agencies have funding to provide government services. Since Congress created new rules in the mid-1970s governing our nation's budget process, we have never passed both a budget and all its spending bills on time in the same year. Never. In fact, since 2001, Congress has managed to enact only 8.3 percent of those spending bills on time. It gets worse in election years. In the past eight election years, Congress has failed 75 percent of the time to even pass a budget. No boss in the world would accept this lack of performance from his or her employees, and it's unaccept- able that Congress can't get its work done for the American people. Recent studies have also shown that our budget process encourages agencies to develop a "use it or lose it" mentality. Agencies spend nearly 20 percent of their annual funds in the final five weeks of the year. Billions are spent unnecessarily, simply to avoid 'losing' the money or giving it back to the treasury. Additionally, Congress wastes billions every year funding programs that are unnecessary and redundant, because it simply doesn't have enough time to properly review the government's budget and spending activities. This is a clear failure to govern, and both parties are responsible. The American people deserve better than a broken system that creates unwanted economic uncertainty. It's time for Washington to change its ways, and Wisconsin has the answer. In order to foster greater economic certainty and create a better func- tioning, more efficient federal govern- ment, Congress should switch to a biennial budgeting system. Twenty states currently use biennial budgeting, and have produced great results. Every president since Ronald Reagan has supported switching to a two-year system. Now, after dozens of conver- sations with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle over the past year, I am pleased to say that my legis- lation has more than 140 bipartisan co-sponsors, and was approved by the House Budget Committee by a bipar- tisan vote of 22-10. A biennial budgeting system creates greater oversight of federal agencies and the programs for which they are responsible. Instead of forcing agencies to spend all of their time bureaucrati- cally researching, planning, and submit- ting budget plans for the upcoming fiscal year, biennial budgeting creates set times for departments to submit their budget plans, and dedicates the rest of the time to actually governing. And instead of encouraging agencies to use funds by year's end just so they don't risk having a smaller budget the next year, agencies would have a longer time window to make effective, neces- sary spending decisions. This process could also help federal contractors plan and coordinate medium- to long-term infrastruc- ture projects that receive funding over the course of multiple years. Halting the incessant starting and stopping of these projects due to uncertainty surrounding federal funds, biennial budgeting allows agencies and depart- ments to better develop and fund these long-term infrastructure projects with the certainty they need to complete projects on time and on budget. In these tough economic times, we cannot continue to allow our economy to suffer because of our fiscal failures. In order to begin fixing our broken budget process, Congress should take more time to research and discuss the problems in a responsible, fact- based manner. Switching to a biennial budgeting system won't solve all of our fiscal woes, but it will give Congress much-needed time to properly under- stand and research federal programs and agencies to ensure taxpayer funds are spent wisely. I look forward to working with equipment distributors from across the country to solve America's budget crisis and to restore certainty to federal infrastructure programs, which will create an environment to allow businesses to once again grow and prosper. Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wis.) is in his second term representing Wisconsin's eighth congressional district. He serves on the House Transportation & Infrastructure, Budget, and Agriculture Committees. By Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wis.) 45_view from the hill_KP.indd 45 3/27/14 4:41 PM

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