The President’s budget proposal is politics at its worst. Just last week, the President called for fiscal restraint and vowed to go through the budget line-by-line to weed out wasteful and bloated spending. Regrettably, it seems his commitment to fiscal discipline is as thin as the teleprompter he used to read his speech. His proposal is nothing more than an aggressive agenda of more government spending, more taxes and more deficit spending with a little window dressing to give the illusion of restraint.
The President’s budget more than doubles the debt, drives spending to a new record of $3.8 trillion next year alone, pushes the deficit to a new record of $1.6 trillion in FY 2010, and raises taxes by over $2 trillion through 2020 by the Administration’s own estimates.
While I applaud the President’s pledge to ‘freeze’ government spending for three years to make up for the burgeoning federal deficit which his policies continue to feed, I believe more must be done. We must change course and tighten the belt on spending by passing strict budget caps that limit federal spending every year – not just for the next three years.
As a member of the House Budget Committee, I will work to hold the administration accountable for its promises of fiscal responsibility while fighting for fiscal discipline and tax relief for working Americans.
Posted February 2, 2010