BILL REQ. #:  H-3812.2 

Read first time 01/13/10.   Referred to Committee on Ways & Means.

     TO THE HONORABLE BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF EACH STATE'S LEGISLATURE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
     We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
     WHEREAS, The federal budget deficit for federal fiscal year 2009 was 1.42 trillion dollars, triple the record deficit of the year before, and at ten percent the highest as a share of the national economy since World War II; and
     WHEREAS, The Congressional Budget Office's analysis of the president's budget finds that by 2019 the annual federal budget deficit will still be roughly 1 trillion dollars, long after the current recession is expected to have ended and revenues have returned to normal rates of growth; and
     WHEREAS, Federal spending increased 18.2 percent in 2009 and reached twenty-five percent of gross domestic product, a level not seen in more than fifty years; and
     WHEREAS, The Progressive Policy Institute finds that because of scheduled spending on entitlements, federal spending is on course to exceed forty percent of gross domestic product within the lifetime of today's children; and
     WHEREAS, New entitlements being considered in the United States Congress would, when fully implemented, add 1.8 trillion dollars in new federal spending, greatly aggravating the budget deficit; and
     WHEREAS, If entitlements are not reformed and new ones avoided, the federal budget deficit may result in massive tax increases that will cripple our economy and impoverish future generations; and
     WHEREAS, The nation's soaring budget deficit, if not arrested, will crowd out public investments in education and infrastructure and in private investments in goods and services essential to creating jobs, ensuring prosperity, and improving the quality of life of all Americans; and
     WHEREAS, Our national debt is projected to be 17.1 trillion dollars in ten years, equivalent to 50,000 dollars for every American; and
     WHEREAS, The cost of servicing federal debt will increase from 202 million dollars this year to more than 700 billion dollars in 2019, driving up interest rates, weakening the dollar, and crowding out the exports so vital to a trade-dependent state like Washington; and
     WHEREAS, The large and growing foreign ownership of United States national debt, with foreign nations now holding some 3.5 trillion dollars in treasury securities, places our economic security and political independence at risk; and
     WHEREAS, When surveyed as to their top priorities, voters consistently place deficit reduction first, far ahead of other concerns;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully resolve:
     (1) That immediate and sustained action be taken to slow the growth of federal spending and reduce the federal budget deficit to a manageable share of our economy;
     (2) That specific action be taken by the president and congress, in a bipartisan way, to reform federal entitlements and slow the growth of entitlement spending to levels our children can afford; and
     (3) That the president and congress should avoid the creation of any new federal entitlements that will further add to the federal deficit, increase tax burdens, impede private investment, and harm our international competitiveness.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of the United States, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of each state's legislature of the United States of America, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.