McCarthy Statement on Budget Resolution

(WASHINGTON) “Today I voted against the Republican Budget Resolution. This budget will continue sending our government down the road of fiscal irresponsibility. It will lead to a larger budget deficit and pass the responsibility of paying off the debt to our children and grandchildren. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, if we were to pay off the entire national debt today, every American would owe $26,234.54. This amount stands to increase dramatically if this budget takes effect.

The budget cuts vital services to veterans, first responders, and underserved communities, which will leave our already struggling state and local governments to foot the bill. This budget could lead to higher state and local taxes for already overburdened Long Islanders.

The most fiscally irresponsible aspect of this budget is that it does not contain spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan or the President’s plan to privatize portions of Social Security. It contains not a single penny for fixing the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). The Treasury Department estimates the AMT will lead to significantly higher taxes for more than 30 million taxpayers in the next 5 years. The AMT crisis will cost thousands of Long Island working families thousands of dollars by 2010 and it must be addressed in this Congress. No household or business would exclude two of its largest expenses from its annual budget and neither should the federal government.”