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April 18, 2006
REID STATEMENT ON THE NOMINATION OF ROB PORTMAN
Washington, DC — Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid released the following statement on President Bush’s nomination of USTR Rob Portman to succeed Joshua Bolton as Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
“From record trade deficits to record budget deficits, Rob Portman should fit right in at George Bush's OMB.”
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The Record of George W. Bush’s Previous OMB Director, Joshua Bolten:
· $6.592 trillion: Federal debt on June 26, 2003, the day Joshua Bolten became director of the Office of Management and Budget. [Treasury Department]
· $8.364 trillion: Federal debt when he left OMB. [Treasury Department]
· $8.407 trillion: Federal Debt today. [Treasury Department] The federal debt is currently at its highest level ever.
· President Bush Turned Record Budget Surpluses into Record Deficits and Debt. When President Bush took office, he inherited a unified budget surplus of $236 billion, the largest in American history, and surpluses were projected for years to come. These surpluses quickly disappeared under the weight of his budget busting tax cuts. By 2002 the unified budget deficit was $158 billion. Last year, the deficit reached $318 billion, higher than in any year before President Bush took office, and is likely to grow to well over $350 billion this year. When President Bush took office, the total national debt was $5.7 trillion. The Bush Administration was forced to ask Congress to raise the debt limit four times, most recently to a limit of almost $9 trillion. [Office of Management and Budget; Congressional Budget Office; U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of Public Debt; Senate Budget Committee]
The Record of George W. Bush’s New Pick for OMB Director, Rob Portman, as United States Trade Representative:
$35.157 billion: Monthly goods and services trade deficit in January 2001, when George W. Bush became President. [Bureau of Economic Analysis]
$57.618 billion: Monthly goods and services deficit in April 2005, the month Portman became U.S. Trade Representative. [Bureau of Economic Analysis]
$65.7 billion: February 2006 goods and services deficit. (Latest BEA data.) [Bureau of Economic Analysis]
$723.62 billion: 2005 Trade Deficit. [Bureau of Economic Analysis] The 2005 trade deficit was the highest trade deficit in American history.
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The Senate may proceed to consideration of H.R. 5385, the Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act during Monday's session.
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