Erskine Bowles on Budget & Economy

Double the Small Business Administration budget

My goal will be to double SBA's budget appropriation to $1.5 billion. SBA has been treated as a backwater bureaucracy under previous administrations and this one. My experience as SBA Administrator showed me that it can be a major driver of small- business success & general economic growth. We should double the SBA's Venture-Capital Program, Section 7A & 504 Loan Guarantees, SBA's Micro-Loan Program and increase support of Revolving Loan Funds, & expand the SBA's Small Business Development Centers Source: Bowles Jobs Plan Jul 5, 2004

Must pass a tobacco buyout

Over the past five years, tobacco quotas - the number of pounds of tobacco that farmers are allowed to grow - have been cut in half. I support the compromise tobacco buyout proposal pending in Congress. This current legislation would be funded with assessments on tobacco companies and would result in no additional costs to the federal budget. Source: Bowles Jobs Plan Jul 5, 2004

Mitigate the dairy industry crisis

I will support efforts to establish a Southern Dairy Compact along the lines proposed by Senator Jeffords of Vermont and Congressman Etheridge. Individual state efforts have run afoul of the interstate commerce clause of the US Constitution. Joint state action under the Compact, premised on congressional approval, has overcome this constitutional question. A similar compact - the Northeast Dairy Compact - has been a success for producers, processors and consumers. Source: Bowles Jobs Plan Jul 5, 2004

Provide economic development support for hardhit communities

Support includes special federal export assistance for area firms through such mechanisms as our university system's Small Business and Technology Development Centers and our Manufacturing Extension Partnership centers; special federal assistance to rebuild or expand vital infrastructure; strengthening educational systems which now scramble to re-train the overflow of dislocated workers and help companies retool; and enhancing affordable housing through support of community development corporations. Source: Bowles Jobs Plan Jul 5, 2004

Restored fiscal discipline & balanced the budget

[Under Pres. Clinton], I helped bring Democrats and Republicans together to balance the budget for the first time in a generation. I want to take a similar bipartisan approach to the Senate. We must restore fiscal sanity, protect Social Security and make investments in growth, health care and education. I also believe in the "pay as you go" rule: If you propose a new spending program, you must propose a way to pay for it. So I am spelling out how I will pay for my Jobs Plan. Source: Bowles Jobs Plan Jul 5, 2004

We must restore fiscal discipline via "pay as you go" rule

I will urge Senators to put aside partisan interests for the public interest. Congress should enact a jobs plan that increases economic growth. If we could raise the average annual growth rate from 3 to 4 percent over the next decade, we would generate $2.5 trillion in increased federal revenue. These additional revenues should go directly into reducing the budget deficit. They would cut the anticipated deficit by more than half over the coming decade. Also, we must return to the "pay as you go" rule. Source: Bowles Jobs Plan Jul 5, 2004

A plan that reduces deficits

[My budget & Jobs] plan will: treat corporations' domestic and foreign tax payments alike ($67 billion over 10 years); cut Congress' pork budget in half ($115 billion over 10 years); reduce the federal government's non-defense and non-homeland security work force by 10 percent ($40 billion over 10 years); require the Veterans Administration and the Department of Defense to jointly purchase prescription drugs ($2 billion in 10 years); close the so-called "Bermuda" tax loophole ($5 billion over 10 years) Source: Bowles Jobs Plan Jul 5, 2004

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