Smith Calls Out Biden Administration’s Continued Failure to Account for Impending Cuts to Medicare, Other Government Programs as a Result of Democrats’ Reckless Spending
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Budget Committee Republican Leader Jason Smith (MO-08), in a letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), slammed the Biden Administration over its continued failure to follow the law by transparently accounting for impending cuts to critical government programs that will result from Congressional Democrats’ reckless spending.The Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (PAYGO) requires that new mandatory spending be offset with mandatory spending cuts to programs like Medicare. OMB is required to periodically and publicly release scorecards that contain balances for new spending legislation that is enacted. These balances determine whether automatic cuts to important federal programs will occur at the end of this session of Congress as a result of new spending enacted by Congressional Democrats.
“President Biden and Washington Democrats falsely claim their reckless spending habits will have no negative impact on Americans or the broader economy. Yet, the spending from their first bailout bill alone would trigger a $36 billion cut to Medicare next year. This comes as rampant inflation is sweeping the country and imposing higher prices on workers and families,” said House Budget Committee Republican Leader Smith. “This is another manufactured crisis the American people are facing because the Biden Administration wants to give itself more command and control over their lives. Working families deserve a government that is transparent about its spending and accountable for its actions. Unfortunately, the Biden Administration has shown little interest in either.”
Historically, OMB has published updated scorecards in January, May, September, and December. However, since President Biden took office eight months ago, not a single PAYGO scorecard has been published that accounts for legislation enacted during the Biden Administration.
“The record level of government spending, lack of transparency about the PAYGO impacts of this spending, and continued efforts to enact trillions in additional spending by President Biden and Congressional Democrats do a serious disservice to Americans,” wrote Smith in the letter to OMB. “The White House should be publicly tracking this information and lawmakers should be openly debating ways to offset the programmatic cuts scheduled to occur with more acceptable solutions. Unfortunately, as currently structured, the legally required end-of-year programmatic cuts as a result of the Democrats’ new mandatory growth in government will disproportionately impact America’s seniors and those of low or fixed incomes. But the lack of transparency from the White House about the current amounts needed to offset and prevent these cuts triggered by their new laws is hampering any efforts to prevent this next coming crisis.”
House Budget Committee Republican Leader Smith first wrote to the Biden Administration approximately one month ago urging them to immediately publish the scorecards and noting that these cuts will affect critical programs including Medicare, the Crime Victims Fund, farm security and rural investment programs, and maternal, infant, and early childhood support programs.
Read the most recent letter to OMB here.
