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Good morning Chairman Spratt and Ranking Member Ryan.  I appreciate the opportunity to hear testimony from Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Elmendorf on the federal budget and economic outlook.  During these extremely difficult economic times for our nation’s families, I welcome the opportunity to hear testimony from the CBO Director on his projections for the federal budget over the next 10 years.    

I represent the largest manufacturing district in Ohio, as well as the largest agricultural district in Ohio.   On the manufacturing side, my district went from being the 9th highest manufacturing district out of 435 Congressional Districts in the 1st fiscal quarter of 2008 and dropping to 15th, according to the latest numbers from the National Association of Manufacturing.  There has been a consistent loss of jobs from my District, and the companies that are still in business have had to make tremendous sacrifices to remain in business.   

Individuals, families, and businesses have been struggling during our nation’s economic downturn, and it is very clear that jobs are desperately needed in Ohio.  The latest 2009 unemployment rates for Ohio and the United States are 10.9%, and 10%, respectively, and 4 out of 16 counties in my Congressional District have unemployment rates over 14%.  The American people need jobs, and I have grave concerns with the borrow and spend practices of this Congress and Administration over the past year; practices which have not helped the economy recover.    

As the President has laid out his preliminary spending proposals for the next fiscal year, specifically his proposed spending "freeze", I feel his plan does not go nearly far enough to address the serious spending problem we face as a nation.  The spending freeze outlined in the State of the Union address hits only the tip of the iceberg, as it applies to only a small percentage of discretionary spending.  President Obama signed two omnibus appropriations bills that increased non-defense discretionary spending by 10.3 percent in Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 and 12.3 percent in FY 2010.   If the President was serious about a spending freeze, he would go back to the spending levels from at least two years ago.  

We are long overdue for an honest review of our spending as the U.S. again faces record deficits.  CBO has stated our current budget deficit will reach $1.35 trillion.  By 2020, at the current spending levels, United States taxpayers will pay $2 billion per day in interest payments alone.  In addition to the current spending, it is anticipated that the Senate will pass, and soon return to the House of Representatives, a bill to increase the statutory debt limit by $1.9 trillion dollars.  These spending sprees must stop.  They have not assisted with creating jobs and are adding more and more burden to future generations.
With the aggressive spending that has occurred these past few years I have serious concerns with the U.S. debt held by foreign holders.  Our debt as a share of the economy has jumped over recent years, from approximately 35% to over 60% this year.  Given that we rely on foreigners to purchase a great deal of our debt, roughly half, I am concerned that there is a danger of reaching a breaking point on our debt levels in which these foreign investors begin to lose credibility in our fiscal sustainability and long-term economic viability.  I am interested to hear Mr. Elmendorf’s assessment of this current situation, and at which point the rate of debt to GDP will have negative effects on the U.S. economy.

I look forward to hearing testimony from Mr. Elmendorf today, and look forward to working with him as the FY2011 budget process proceeds.  Thank you