{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://fortenberry.house.gov/media-center/fort-reports/fort-report-federal-budget", "Fort Report: The Federal Budget", "2015-10-30", "2015", "2015-10", "Republican", "House", "NE", "Jeff Fortenberry", "F000449", "fortenberry.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "If you have ever attended the Nebraska Breakfast in Washington, you might remember the charts. While they are not the most riveting conversation piece, the charts are my attempt to display graphs and statistics that communicate the massive and complex federal budget in a digestible way. As surprising as it seems, a number of people tell me they look forward to the budget presentation.\nThe charts do not paint a pretty picture. Spending has burdened our nation for far too long, resulting in a growing and unsustainable debt. If we had to pay off the national debt today, every man, woman, and child would owe about $57,000. Although the deficit is now falling thanks to improvements in responsible budgeting, some tax reforms, and slight economic improvement, more progress must be made to restore fiscal discipline. Three years ago the deficit was $1.4 trillion. That number is now projected to be $426 billionbelow the 50-year average as a percentage of economic output. Good progress, but still not enough. \nA properly functioning government is important for the protection of our country, orderly commerce, and maintaining the guardrails of a flourishing civil society. These objectives require a rightly ordered budgetary process. \nIn the early part of each year, the President proposes a budget. Congress can either accept or reject that proposal. Most of the time, the Presidents budget is rejected. The House and the Senate craft their own versions and attempt to harmonize differences. While theres a lot of talk about various policy initiatives, the Appropriations Committee, on which I serve, makes strategic decisions with the budget number to determine which programs are unnecessary and outmoded, and which programs need to be enhanced. Heres the problem: this entire process has been disrupted, with many stops and starts. Regular order has become regular disorder.\nBudgetary delays and confusion create another problem. Increased volatility translates to higher price tags. People in business know that a cycle of disruption damages efficiency, not to mention the bottom line. The same is true of government budgeting. \nThis week the House of Representatives passed a budget for the remainder of the current and next fiscal year with my support. The measure increases military spending, fixes a Medicare Part B problem, and creates stability for the near term. It is also less than the 2011 discretionary spending. While the agreement is not perfect, the prospects for a better conclusion were weak, the potential for more Washington-led drama high, and further stress on the military real.\nMany people are justifiably anxious about the economy, cynical about politics, and concerned about worsening chaos in our culture. Budgetary drama worsens this insecurity. America cannot sustain more disruption from Washington. If we steadily move toward balancing our budget and attacking our debt, along with enhancing small business formation and the right type of healthcare reform, we can reset the way Washington runsand help turn our country around.\nIf you would like to see my budget charts, I invite you to view them at Fortenberry.house.gov.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://fortenberry.house.gov/media-center/fort-reports/fort-report-federal-budget"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8080019615590572, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}