While introducing his budget in February, President Obama said “We simply cannot continue to spend as if deficits don’t have consequences; as if waste doesn’t matter; as if the hard-earned tax dollars of the American people can be treated like Monopoly money; as if we can ignore this challenge for another generation.” The President then proceeded to introduce a budget that will result in record deficits for this year and next, double the national debt in 10 years, increase government spending by $2.5 trillion, and raises taxes by $3 trillion over the next decade.
A recent report by the President’s own Treasury Department staff entitled “Financial Report of the United States Government” outlines our nation’s fiscal situation and notes that “current policies are not sustainable.” The Treasury’s assessment shows the total unfunded liabilities for the U.S. are $62 trillion, which exceeds the country’s net worth. Paying off this liability would require every American to write a check to the Treasury Department for over $200,000.
The Government Accounting Office (GAO) issued a report in March noting that our nation’s fiscal gap–the difference between revenue and spending–is widening due to the government’s largest entitlement programs: Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, which are all fiscally insolvent. Medicare is currently broke, Social Security is going broke, and Medicaid is bankrupting the federal government and state governments. I am stunned and disappointed that President Obama’s response to this urgent fiscal crisis was to propose another massive entitlement program – a government regulation of health care.
We need to make health care more affordable and portable, but this could have been done without bankrupting our country in the process. Creating a new $2.4 trillion entitlement program when we are facing record debt and deficits is a prescription for economic collapse. Thomas Jefferson prophetically observed that “Loading the nation with debt and leaving it for the following generations to pay is morally irresponsible.”
The American people are fed up with out-of-control government spending, taxing, and borrowing, which is why I have called for an immediate freeze on all non-defense discretionary spending. I have also asked that returned TARP money and unspent stimulus funds be redirected to the Treasury for deficit reduction. We also need to pass the Balanced Budget Amendment I have cosponsored every Congress since 2001. In order to grow our economy, we must cut spending and cut taxes immediately. The federal government must learn to live within its means just like American families. By taking these small steps, our economy will once again experience the growth and prosperity that have defined America for generations.
Cost of the President’s Budget
- Would raise taxes on all Americans by nearly $3 trillion over the next decade;
- Would double the publicly held national debt to over $18 trillion;
- Would add $74,000 of debt per household;
- Would borrow 42 cents for each dollar spent in 2010;
- Would permanently expand the federal government by 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) over 2007 pre-recession levels;
- Would run a $1.6 trillion deficit in 2010–$143 billion higher than the previous record 2009 deficit; and
- Would leave permanent deficits topping $1 trillion for at least ten more years. (The Heritage Foundation, March 9, 2010)
Cost of the President’s Health Care “Reform”
- This government regulation of the health care sector (one-sixth of the U.S. economy), intrudes on the doctor-patient relationship, and increases total spending by $2.6 trillion.
- Raises taxes by more than a half-trillion dollars over the next 10 years – the largest tax increase in American history;
- Adds a new trillion-dollar health care entitlement when the government cannot even pay for the entitlement programs already on the books;
- Expands the federal budget obligation to health care spending by $390 billion over the next 10 years; and
- Imposes an unprecedented Washington mandate that forces everyone to buy health insurance, or pay a fine. (The Committee on the Budget, Minority Staff , April 7, 2010)
