CRFB Applauds Introduction of 3% Deficit Target Resolution

Bipartisan Fiscal Forum (BFF) co-chairs Representatives Bill Huizenga (R-MI) and Scott Peters (D-CA), along with BFF Members, Representatives Lloyd Smucker (R-PA) and Mike Quigley (D-IL), introduced a resolution in the House yesterday calling on lawmakers to pursue a goal of reducing the federal budget deficit to 3% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), about half its current level. The resolution cites the national security and economic growth risks of rising debt as rationale for setting this goal, states that the House should adopt this goal as soon as possible, and suggests a number of enforcement mechanisms to achieve it.

Additional original cosponsors include House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-TX), as well as the rest of the Bipartisan Fiscal Forum steering committee consisting of Representatives Ed Case (D-HI), Ron Estes (R-KS), Jared Golden (D-ME), Erin Houchin (R-IN), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), Dusty Johnson (R-SD), Blake Moore (R-UT), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA), and Steve Womack (R-AR).

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget’s Board of Directors has endorsed this goal, recently publishing an open letter to lawmakers recommending a 3% deficit target be adopted.  

The following is a statement from Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget: 

America’s fiscal health is rapidly approaching an inflection point, and our elected officials will need to decide whether our trajectory will continue on its present course towards crisis or begin to bend toward sustainability. This resolution shows that hope is not yet lost in achieving the latter.

The dismal fiscal situation we find ourselves in – debt held by the public as large as the entire economy, deficits on track to average $2 trillion a year over the next decade, annual interest costs rapidly growing to $1 trillion and higher – did not appear overnight and did not happen by mistake. Rather, policymakers of both parties have for decades neglected the tough but necessary choices that fiscal responsibility requires. Reckless borrowing and ignoring the need for offsets has left us with less fiscal space to respond to emergencies, and if left unchecked, it will lead us toward fiscal ruin.

This resolution, led by the Bipartisan Fiscal Forum, charts a new approach – putting debt on a downward path instead of permitting it to grow indefinitely.  A 3% of GDP deficit target is realistic enough to be achievable, and aggressive enough to reassure markets and lenders that the debt is on a sustainable path.

Momentum has been growing in support of a 3% of GDP deficit target, including bipartisan support from policy experts and business leaders concerned about the nation’s debt. And as the cosponsors of this resolution note, pursuing this deficit target with all possible speed is in the best interest of our national security and economic prosperity.

If we are ever to return to a responsible federal budget, we will need elected officials from both parties to work together to make that happen, and today’s introduction of a resolution calling for a 3% of GDP deficit target is an important step in the right direction. We commend Representatives Huizenga, Peters, Smucker, and Quigley for leading this effort, along with all the cosponsors, and we urge lawmakers to adopt this resolution and get to work.  

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For more information, please contact Matt Klucher, Assistant Director for Media Relations, at klucher@crfb.org.