Foreign Policy

PDF Print E-mail

The federal budget should be a statement of our nation’s values that reflects the priorities of the American people: good jobs, safe communities, quality education, and access to health care. In recent years, however, Republican budget proposals have conflicted with these priorities and sent our nation into deeper and deeper debt.

When President Bush assumed office in 2001, he inherited a projected ten-year budget surplus of $5.6 trillion. Unfortunately, this opportunity to make key investments in America’s future was squandered, leaving President Obama with the worst budget deficit in our nation’s history and an economic recession of a magnitude not seen since the Great Depression. The Obama Administration inherited an economy in recession after years of neglected oversight and careless deregulation of the financial markets, and as expected the top priority for the Administration and Congress is our economic recovery.

 

Fiscal Year 2011 Budget

On February 1st, 2010, President Obama submitted his budget proposal for fiscal year 2011 (FY11). The President has proposed to continue the work he and the Congress have done to prioritize our nation’s economic recovery through job creation strategic investments, and fiscal responsibility. Since its harrowing freefall in 2008, our economy is experiencing significant improvements, including 5.7% growth in the last quarter of 2009 – the largest increase in six years. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which was enacted in early 2009, has been a major reason for to this recovery, and we will continue to realize more of its benefits in 2010, such as tax relief for 9 in 10 families and small businesses, job creation through investments in infrastructure and other projects, and extension of unemployment benefits for millions of Americans.

 

Despite encouraging reports of decreases in job losses, the unemployment rate remains unacceptably high. The President’s budget calls for additional job creation initiatives including enabling increases in U.S. exports and providing small business with more access to needed credit.

 

President Obama also recognized the need to invest in our future with strong budgetary commitments to our energy independence, healthcare reform, transportation infrastructure and education. Key investments in these needy areas will return profound advancements to our economy and wellbeing.

 

Mindful of these urgent needs, the President was still careful to craft a budget that will restore fiscal responsibility. The budget includes a deficit of $1.3 trillion for 2011, slightly less than the expected deficit for 2010. By 2014, the deficit is projected to fall to $706 billion, or half of the 2009 deficit. In constructing his budget proposal, President Obama continued his commitment to examine every line of the budget to identify ineffective programs. His administration has already identified 126 programs that he proposes to eliminate or reduce, for an estimated savings of $23 billion for FY11. In addition, the President’s proposed fiscal commission will develop proposals to further reduce the deficit.

 

When Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives in 2007, we adopted a Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) budgeting rule. This rule forces all legislation in the House that increases mandatory spending or decreases tax receipts to be offset with a revenue increase or spending cut elsewhere. PAYGO rules played a large part in the budget discipline enjoyed during the Clinton Administration, which provided the projected ten year budget surplus that was squandered by the Bush Administration and Congressional Republicans who abandoned PAYGO rules in 2002. With a President that supports fiscal responsibility, Congress passed a statutory PAYGO rule which was subsequently signed into law on February 12, 2010. Surprisingly, not a single Republican member of Congress voted in favor of the measure.

 

You can find more detailed information in the President’s FY2011 Budget Request and how it directly affects our state of California.

 

 



Facebook Flickr Twitter RSS
billlookup

Bill Name (i.e. HR 1776)


Or search by Keyword

View our Privacy Policy.
Comments? Suggestions? Tell me how I can make this website more useful to you.

Please note that display of commercial logos does not indicate official endorsement of any product or website.