Twice a year, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) releases a budget and economic outlook.  The reports provide an important benchmark for lawmakers to assess the impact of policies affecting the federal budget.  As the analysis released earlier this month confirmed, Washington has a major spending problem.

Grim Reality

The bleak forecast in the CBO report emphasizes an urgent need for budget reform.  Over the next decade, total spending is expected to rise by 67 percent, outpacing economic growth.  During that time, the federal debt – now at $16.5 trillion – is projected to grow by additional $9 trillion. 

Economists have long warned that the burden of chronically high debt drags down economic growth and hurts job creation.  The latest CBO report shows that unemployment will remain above 7.5 percent into 2014 – marking the longest stretch of persistently high joblessness in the past seven decades.  Meanwhile, rising interest payments will make it harder for the government to pay back what it owes.  The CBO expects interest payments to soar from today’s $224 billion to $857 billion in the next 10 years.

Missed Opportunity

President Obama had a prime opportunity in his State of the Union Address to outline a better way forward.  Instead, he wrongly insists that more tax increases are an effective solution.

Tax hikes may mask deficit spending in the short term, but truly addressing our country’s budget problem requires an honest debate about the steep growth of government spending on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the President’s health-care law.  Over the next decade, the CBO estimates that spending on these programs will increase by 73 percent to $28.9 trillion.

Annual budget proposals by the President have been shortsighted in addressing the debt crisis.  Despite repeated rhetoric touting a “balanced approach,” the budget plans that President Obama has submitted to Congress for the past two years have failed to earn any support from Republicans and Democrats.

This year’s budget from the White House – which was due by the first Monday in February – is now not expected until mid-March, according to recent news reports.

Meeting the Challenge

As a new member of the Senate Budget Committee, I look forward to working with my colleagues to produce a federal budget that contains meaningful deficit reduction.  Congress is required by law to pass a budget resolution every year by April 15.  Unlike the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, Senate Democrats have failed to do so for nearly four years.

Putting permanent measures in place can help rein in out-of-control spending and pave the way toward a sustainable economic future.  I recently joined Sen. Thad Cochran as an original co-sponsor of a resolution supporting a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution.

The amendment would force the White House and Congress to produce a balanced budget every year and limit federal spending to 18 percent of gross domestic product.  Raising taxes would require approval by a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress.  It would take a three-fifths majority to raise the debt limit.

The warning signs in the latest CBO report are clear.  Harmful spending habits need to end, and economic growth remains slow.  Washington would be wise to deal with these problems sooner rather than later.  Americans deserve responsible action without delay.