Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington (TX-19) held a markup of three bipartisan bills to create a fiscal commission and educate the American people on our unsustainable fiscal trajectory. All three bills passed out of the Committee with bipartisan support. The last time the House Budget Committee passed bipartisan legislation was nearly a decade ago in March of 2014. Immediately following the markup, Chairman Arrington hosted a press conference in the Capitol where he was joined by several bipartisan colleagues and a number of economic and fiscal policy stakeholders.

“Today is a great day for America, for governing this country that we love, and for a constituency that is conspicuously absent from the halls of Congress: our children and grandchildren.  No leader worth their salt can look at the balance sheet of the federal government, CBO’s projections, and our unfunded liabilities into the future - $120 trillion over the next 30 years – and not be shaken to their core and stirred in their spirit to do everything they can to make sure that we don’t bankrupt the greatest country in the history of humanity,” Arrington said. “This isn’t a Democrat problem or a Republican problem – it’s America’s problem, and it’s a mathematic reality that will require real leadership from both sides of the aisle before it’s too late. I am so proud of the Budget Committee’s hard work, constructive debate, and sense of urgency about making the difficult decisions to make sure we don’t become the first generation of leaders to leave this country worse than we found it.”

Background: 

• The House Budget Committee passed three bills with bipartisan support: 
  • H.R. 5779, Fiscal Commission Act of 2023 – Creates a bipartisan debt commission consisting of Members of Congress and well-respected leaders from the private sector. The commission will identify policies to reduce the debt, address unfunded liabilities, and bring down our debt-to-GDP. It will also create a national public education campaign to inform the American people about the scale and unsustainability of our debt and the consequences of inaction.  
  • H.R. 6952, Fiscal State of the Nation Act – Raises the profile of America’s fiscal health by requiring the Comptroller General to present to a Joint Session of Congress on the federal government’s balance sheet, trends driving our debt and deficit, and our long-term unfunded liabilities.  
  • H.R. 6957, Debt-to-GDP Transparency and Stabilization Act – Requires current and projected debt-to-GDP ratios to be included in both the President’s budget and in any congressional budget resolution. Debt-to-GDP is widely accepted as the most meaningful measure of indebtedness. By taking into account a country’s ability to service and repay its debt, debt-to-GDP ratio encourages debate about pro-growth economic policies that can play a big role in reducing our indebtedness. 

To watch Chairman Arrington’s remarks at the press conference, click here. 

To watch the House Budget Committee’s markup, click here. 

To read more about the House Budget Committee’s work to establish a debt commission, click here. 

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