Broad, Bipartisan Support for a 3% Deficit Target

Representatives Bill Huizenga (R-MI) and Scott Peters (D-CA), co-chairs of the Bipartisan Fiscal Forum (BFF), joined by Representatives Lloyd Smucker (R-PA) and Mike Quigley (D-IL), along with the entire BFF Steering Committee, introduced a resolution in support of a 3% deficit-to-Gross Domestic Product (GDP) target last month. 

The resolution expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States should reduce and maintain the federal unified budget deficit at or below 3% of GDP while acknowledging that the deficit for fiscal year 2025 was roughly 6% of GDP and interest costs are now projected to total over $1 trillion each year going forward. You can find more information on the resolution here.

Support for a 3% deficit-to-GDP target is broad and bipartisan. The fiscal target is supported by approximately 40 former government officials, including senators, Members of Congress, Office of Management and Budget directors, Congressional Budget Office directors, governors, and other senior budget and economic officials. Outside government – private-sector leaders, thought leaders, and organizations – from Warren Buffett and Ray Dalio to The Washington Post Editorial Board have argued that a 3% deficit would meaningfully improve the nation’s fiscal outlook.  

Below are some of those who have spoken in support of a 3% deficit-to-GDP target. 

Representative Bill Huizenga (R-MI), Co-Chair of the Bipartisan Fiscal Forum: "The 3% Resolution demonstrates that Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle recognize not only the unsustainable trajectory of our national debt, but the urgency in which it needs to be addressed as well..." 

Representative Scott Peters (D-CA), Co-Chair of the Bipartisan Fiscal Forum: "...If we reduce our annual borrowing to 3% of the total size of our economy, we will set a goal and benchmark we can look at every year to evaluate: are we doing better or worse than last year?..."

Representative Lloyd Smucker (R-PA): "...Reducing our budget deficit to 3% of GDP or less is an achievable goal that, if reached, would have a great impact on stabilizing our debt and growing our economy..." 

Representative Mike Quigley (D-IL): "We must establish aggressive, realistic goals like a 3% deficit-to-GDP ratio to rein in our nation’s debt and ensure future generations are not handed a fiscal crisis."

Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury **: "I would urge [President Trump] to make public his desire to get the deficit down to 3% by the end of his term."  

President Barack Obama**: "As I said before, our deficits are coming down very fast…On the current trajectory that we're on and if we were to pass the budget that I put forward, our deficits would continue to go down. And we would have a deficit-to-GDP ratio below 3%, which is typically the standard at which it's sustainable..."  

Ray Dalio, Founder of Bridgewater Associates**: "The basic picture has not changed — if the US doesn’t cut the deficit to 3% of the GDP, and soon, we risk facing an economic heart attack in the next three years."

Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway**: "I could end the deficit in five minutes.  You just pass a law that says that any time there’s a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election..." 

Jason Furman, former Council of Economic Advisers Chair**: "The right fiscal goal was to make sure the debt was falling as a share of the economy, which would require the deficit being below about 3% of GDP."

Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget Board of Directors: "For the sake of our economy, our national security, and the livelihood of our children and grandchildren, we encourage you to agree to adopt a 3% deficit target, or some similar target, and work with urgency toward enacting the necessary spending and revenue changes to achieve this target and put the federal budget on a sustainable path." 

The Washington Post’s Editorial Board: "Getting back to a deficit of 3% of GDP would go a long way to stabilize the debt-to-GDP ratio, which has increased from roughly 65% before the 2008 financial crisis to roughly 120% today..."  

Maya MacGuineas, President, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget: "...A fiscal goal should be aggressive enough to help fix the problem but realistic enough to be achievable, which is exactly what this resolution encourages..."

Brett Loper, Executive Director, Peterson Solutions Fund: "...This bipartisan resolution not only recognizes the urgency of taking action on fiscal solutions, it outlines a critically important budget process for setting a meaningful fiscal target that would put us on a much stronger and more sustainable path for the future." 

Michele Stockwell, President of BPC Action: "...By rallying around a 3%-of-GDP deficit target, Representatives Peters, Huizenga, Smucker, and Quigley are charting a bipartisan path toward a brighter economic future..."  

Demian Brady, Vice President of Research, National Taxpayers Union Foundation: "...This bipartisan resolution by Reps. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) and Scott Peters (D-CA) establishing a 3% deficit-to-GDP goal over five years provides a meaningful benchmark for getting our fiscal house in order..."  

William Glass, Policy Director, Millennial Debt Foundation: "...Getting back under 3% isn’t fiscal heroism but merely the price of keeping optionality, stability, and control in our own hands..."

Zach Moller, Director of the Economic Program, Third Way: "...Reducing the budget deficit to 3% of GDP would absolutely improve our fiscal position, and we are happy to see Congressman Scott Peters and others call for improving this important issue." 

Romina Boccia, Director of Budget and Entitlement Policy, Cato Institute: "A 3% deficit target is a modest but necessary first step to rein in Washington’s reckless borrowing and restore sustainable budgeting..."  

Tom Kahn, former Staff Director, House Budget Committee: "...Although there will be important debates ahead about the most constructive path forward, I endorse the 3% resolution and commend the authors of this measure for their leadership in advancing a serious legislative effort to address the problem." 

Jeremy Dalrymple, Associate Policy Director, Governance Program, R Street Institute: "...This is an achievable, reasonable target that would slow our accumulation of debt and help move toward long-term fiscal sustainability..."  

Kurt Couchman, Senior Fellow in Fiscal Policy, Americans for Prosperity: “…It’s good to see an emerging new framework from Representatives Huizenga, Peters, Smucker, and Quigley: reduce the deficit to 3% of GDP through an effective congressional budget process with credible backstops..."  

Valerie Ramey, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution: "The resolution is an important first step toward reestablishing U.S. fiscal discipline and putting the U.S. on a sustainable debt path." 

Other Supporters of 3% Deficit Target 

Members of Congress 

• Representative Blake Moore (R-UT)
• Representative Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA)
• Representative Dusty Johnson (R-SD)
• Representative Ed Case (D-HI)
• Representative Erin Houchin (R-IN)
• Representative Jared Golden (D-ME)
• Representative Jimmy Panetta (D-CA)
• Representative Jodey Arrington (R-TX), House Budget Committee Chairman
• Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA)
• Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA)**
• Representative Ron Estes (R-KS)
• Representative Steve Womack (R-AR) 

Other Supporters 

• Alan Auerbach, University of California, Berkeley
• Alex Kilander, Progressive Policy Institute’s Center for Funding America's Future
• Barry Anderson, former CBO Acting Director*
• Bill Gradison, Jr. (R-OH), former Member of Congress*
• Brian Bernasek, Carlyle Group*
• Carol Cox Wait, former President, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget*
• Charles S. Robb (D-VA), former Senator*
• Concord Action**
• Dave McCurdy (D-OK), former Member of Congress*
• David Stockman, former OMB Director*
• Dr. Robert Reischauer, former CBO Director*
• Erskine Bowles, former White House Chief of Staff*
• Esther George, former President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City*
• Franklin Raines, former OMB Director*
• Gene Steuerle, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury*
• Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), former Senator*
• Isabel Sawhill, former OMB Associate Director*
• Jacob Lew, former Treasury Secretary and OMB Director**
• James Jones (D-OK), former Member of Congress*
• Jane Harman (D-CA), former Member of Congress*
• Jim Cooper (D-TN), former Member of Congress*
• Joe Manchin (I-WV), former Senator*
• John Kasich (R-OH), former Governor and Member of Congress*
• John Tanner (D-TN), former Member of Congress*
• Keith Hall, former CBO Director*
• Kent Conrad (D-ND), former Senator*
• Leon Panetta, former Defense Secretary, White House Chief of Staff, and OMB Director*
• Marjorie Margolies (D-PA), former Member of Congress*
• Marne Obernauer, Jr., Breakthru Beverage Group*
• Mitch Daniels (R-IN), former Governor and OMB Director*
• Mitt Romney (R-UT), former Senator*
• Peter Orszag, former OMB Director and CBO Director**
• Reid Ribble (R-WI), former Member of Congress*
• Ron Kind (D-WI), former Member of Congress*
• Rudolph G. Penner, former CBO Director*
• Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), former Senator*
• Timothy Penny (I-MN), former Member of Congress*
• Tom Tauke (R-IA), former Member of Congress*
• William Hoagland, former U.S. Senate Budget Committee Staff Director* 

_________ 

*Indicates individuals who signed onto CRFB’s 3% open letter

** Indicates individuals who have spoken in support of a 3% deficit target, but these quotes are not specific to the 3% resolution