Forum sheds light on federal budget issues

Speaking during the closing session of the MMA Annual Meeting on Jan. 21, U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and Congressman Edward Markey expressed frustration at the failure of the Congressional “super committee” to reach a budget deal this past fall.

The inability to reach an agreement could lead to automatic cuts of $500 billion to non-defense discretionary funding, and an equal amount in defense spending, through a process known as sequestration. The cuts would have serious consequences for programs that cities and towns depend on, including Community Development Block Grants and federal transportation funding.

“I can assure you,” Brown said, “as long as I’m there, I will do everything I can to make sure we step back from that sequestration process, to make sure we look at those cuts in a thorough, methodical manner, so they aren’t just jammed down people’s throats. … We need to work together. It’s pretty simple.”

Markey struck a similar tone.

“I know I am not talking about some kind of political impossibility,” he said. “I am talking about regular order, and the way it should operate.

“The goal here is of course to make sure that nothing happens that hurts the Massachusetts economy,” Markey added, noting that the state’s unemployment rate is well below the national average.

Brown, a Republican, and Markey, a Democrat, both expressed frustration with the bitterly partisan atmosphere in Washington.

Markey, who has been in Congress since 1976, said that in the past, “Transportation was always an area that was nonpartisan. Everyone came together. I’ve never been in a situation like this, where you’re having fights over transportation, about where you’re going to get the money.

“I’m not optimistic right now,” Markey added, “but if there is one area that could get eased out, I think it’s transportation.”

Markey’s website (http://markey.house.gov) has a newly updated 23-page report, “The Debt Deal: Implications for Massachusetts.”

Markey and Brown both oppose the elimination of the tax exemption for interest on municipal bonds, a step they said would make it harder to finance essential projects. They were also in agreement about the importance of grants from the National Institutes of Health, which help nurture the state’s medical and biotechnology startups.

Brown portrayed himself as a champion of bipartisanship, taking credit, for example, for helping to stop the Republican-controlled House from making even deeper cuts to the federal block grant program.

“I’ve been working very hard to make sure there is some kind of consensus,” he said.

One area of disagreement concerned the federal income tax cuts that were passed during the first year of the Bush administration in 2001 and are set to expire at the end of this year. Brown suggested that it would be unwise to raise taxes when the economy has yet to recover from the recession that began in 2008. Markey said that rescinding tax cuts for the wealthy should be part of any budget deal.

“You just can’t say to ordinary people, back in their communities, ‘Your CDBG programs are cut, your [heating assistance] programs are being cut, your programs for poor children are being cut,’” Markey said. “That’s unbalanced, while those tax cuts for multimillionaires stay on the books.”

In response to a question about making the sales tax applicable to online purchases, Brown indicated that he has not yet taken a position. Markey said that as chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on telecommunications in 1996, he supported the sales-tax exemption to promote e-commerce in its infancy.

But, he added, “It’s time to put that issue back on the table. It’s an unfair competitive disadvantage. It’s time for us to have this debate.”