News Release
Spratt Statement on New Budget Forecasts
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 25, 2009
WASHINGTON - House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt issued the following statement on new budget forecasts released today by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
“Today’s deficits are a legacy of the Bush Administration and of the worst recession since the 1930s, which began in December 2007 on the watch of President Bush. Most of this year’s deficit is a carry-over from his administration. The rest results from actions taken by the Obama Administration to rescue an economy on the brink of meltdown.
“This year’s deficit reflects the cost of measures that have helped spare the economy a longer, deeper recession, and the extraordinary measures that have swollen this year’s deficit are likely to be nonrecurring.
“It is counterproductive, if not impossible, to balance the budget when the economy is in recession. What we do by way of spending stimulus or tax relief is likely to worsen the deficit. But as the economy stabilizes and begins to recover, we must return the budget’s focus to deficit reduction. The five-year budget we adopted this year did that by reducing the deficit each year. But hard work remains, as these estimates indicate, and we need a plan to keep deficits on a downward trajectory beyond 2014.
“Today’s budget figures are a stark reminder of the fiscal challenges that will loom over us long after we recover from this recession.”
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