Top Moments from House Budget Committee’s Member Day Hearing

December 04, 2025

WASHINGTON, D.C.-House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) held a Member Day Hearing to solicit ideas on how to reform Washington's broken budget process.

Rep. Jim Baird (R-Ind.) highlighted his concerns with the hemp provisions in the recent continuing resolution as an example of Congress not conducting business through regular order. He urged stronger guardrails to prevent sweeping policy decisions from being slipped into must-pass bills and called for proper regulatory debate through the committees of jurisdiction.

Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) explained that Congress is spending nearly $900 billion on 1,264 unauthorized programs-nearly half of all authorizations-with some untouched for decades. Rep. Cammack sponsored the Unauthorized Spending Act, which is designed to force Congress to review the programs by cutting their funding over three years and ending them if they are not renewed. She called for zero-based budgeting and a GDP-linked repayment plan to begin paying down the $38 trillion national debt in an automatic, responsible way.

Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa) explained that the CBO's 10-year outlook is misleading because it hides that Social Security will be insolvent in about eight years, leading to automatic benefit cuts. Rep. Feenstra urged the passage of the Save Our Seniors Act, which would require the CBO to show scheduled and payable benefits so the public can see the real gap and understand how Social Security will not have enough money to pay the full promised benefits.

Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.) warned that the $38.3 trillion national debt and the upcoming insolvency of Social Security and Medicare threaten future generations. Rep. Huizenga sponsors the Fiscal Commission Act (H.R. 3289), which would create a bipartisan commission to develop a debt-reduction plan Congress must vote on, without amendment, providing a structured path to fiscal sustainability.

Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas) emphasized that federal spending has grown unsustainable under the Biden Administration, worsening the national debt, and stressed the need to return to pre-pandemic spending levels and a balanced budget. Rep. Van Duyne presented the RSC budget as an achievable plan to curb spending, reduce waste, promote pro-growth policies, and protect future generations from inheriting overwhelming debt.

Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) argued that the true drivers of U.S. debt are interest costs and demographics, not partisan talking points, and warned that the current spending and borrowing levels-along with looming insolvency of Medicare and Social Security-far exceed what proposed tax hikes or cuts could ever fix. Rep. Schweikert urged the House Budget Committee to embrace innovative, empirical solutions to tackle our looming crises.

Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa) warned that reckless federal spending is jeopardizing Social Security's future, citing his constituent's 43-day delay in receiving survivor benefits as evidence of a system already failing families. He called for Washington to adopt Iowa-style fiscal discipline and urged passage of his proposed balanced budget amendment to restore long-term solvency and responsible governance.

Rep. William Timmons (R-S.C.) highlighted the nation's unsustainable debt trajectory and the looming 20% cut to Social Security benefits as urgent warnings that Congress can no longer ignore. He called for swift adoption of a fiscal commission, praising the committee's previous bipartisan progress and urging continued leadership to protect future generations.

Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) warned that the rising national debt and interest costs are a major burden on future generations and stressed that Congress currently ignores interest when scoring legislation, hiding the true cost of spending. Rep. Cloud urged the passing of the Cost Estimates Improvement Act and legislation to increase the CBO's transparency so that interest costs, assumptions, and models are publicly reported and peer reviewed.

Rep. Aaron Bean (R-Fla.) warned that America is speeding toward a fiscal "iceberg," due to the $38 trillion debt, unsustainable entitlement programs, and soaring health-care costs, and urged a return to pre-pandemic spending levels and major health-care reforms. He also commended Chairman Arrington's leadership in sounding the alarm on the nation's dangerous fiscal trajectory.

Rep. Rick McCormack (R-Ga.) argued that the federal budget process incentivizes wasteful end-of-year spending and mentioned his Incentivized Savings Act, which would reward agencies for underspending by rolling savings into future budgets, reducing the deficit, and offering retention bonuses.

Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas) argued that America's $38 trillion debt is one of the greatest threats to economic freedom and called for restoring fiscal sanity through his principles-based balanced budget amendment. He emphasized that both parties share responsibility for the crisis and says Congress must finally adopt the same common-sense discipline every family follows to live within its means.

Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.), a member of the House Budget Committee, called for a second reconciliation bill to tackle America's unaffordable health care system, saying the committee has both the experience and obligation to drive major reforms. He also emphasized the committee's responsibility to use its influence and unity to advance fiscal discipline before the chairman's final year concludes.

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