WASHINGTON – Today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) participated in the Finance Committee hearing, "Budget Enforcement Mechanisms." For more information or to watch a webcast of the hearing, please click here.  

A copy of Sen. Carper's remarks, as prepared for delivery, follows:  

"Today, our nation faces nearly unprecedented budget deficits and a grim fiscal outlook. As it continues to recover from the financial meltdown and economic downturn, we need to be careful about how we go about restoring fiscal order to ensure that we don't hinder our economic recovery. However, I strongly believe that we need to address our long term fiscal imbalances and assemble a plan to rein in our deficits.  

"Last year, President Obama's bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform produced a plan that reduced our cumulative deficits by about $4 trillion over 10 years – and it did so with about one-third of the savings coming from new revenue, and about two-thirds coming from spending cuts. Since then, some of my colleagues have been working together to put together a legislative package modeled on the fiscal commission's recommendations. This is an important effort and I'm hopeful that this will yield legislation that members of both parties can get behind.  

"The President has also outlined his proposal to curb our unsustainable deficits, and various other members of Congress and outside budget experts have laid out their own versions for fiscal responsibility. I'm encouraged by the strong interest on both sides of the aisle, and I hope that the discussion focuses on balanced approaches that recognize not only a reduction in spending, but an overhaul of the tax code to promote economic growth.  

"Today's hearing will help us focus on the mechanisms that are available to ensure that we meet our deficit reduction targets. This conversation comes at a time when we are rapidly approaching our statutory debt limit, and should help us move forward in a constructive manner and begin to translate our talk on addressing deficits into action."  

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