Media Updates
WASHINGTON – President Obama’s $3.6 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2010 cleared the Senate late today, but did so without the support of Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).
Hatch voted against the budget resolution (S. Con. Res. 13) that he called the worst and most irresponsible budget proposal he has seen in all his years in Congress.
“This budget will balloon the federal deficit by nearly $5 trillion by 2014,” Hatch said. “It will lead to the largest tax increases in history and burden this and future generations of Americans with a mountain of ruinous debt. It also will cripple the economy by killing American jobs and driving business overseas through excessive taxation.”
Hatch noted the president’s and Democrats’ budget will ring up more debt in the next five years than the combined amount created by every president since George Washington. By 2019, the Senator added, the debt in the plan could amount to 80 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), almost twice the historic average and the highest it has been since World War II.
“In 10 years, this budget will spend four times more on interest payments than on education, energy and transportation combined,” Hatch continued. “The president’s budget proposes annual deficits worse, in terms of percentage of GDP, than Guatemala, Aruba, Cuba, Nigeria, Belize, Poland and the Philippines.”
As bad as the whole proposal is, Hatch said, some parts are especially egregious. He particularly took umbrage at the cap-and-trade – the so-called climate revenues – in the proposal that will impose ruinous taxes on energy and industrial companies that will, in turn, be forced to pass on those extra costs to their customers and workers or go out of business.
“This tax, estimated to total between $1.2 trillion and $1.9 trillion over the next decade, will be the largest tax increase in world history,” Hatch said. “Placing that burden on business in the best of economic times is reckless; to do it during a serious recession is almost tantamount to sabotage. It certainly is synonymous with stupidity.”
Hatch said the budget also hikes taxes on a core of small businesses, which are responsible for creating 70 percent of the nation’s jobs and therefore are, in large part, the engine that drives the economy.
“That is sheer folly,” Hatch concluded. “So is the overall budget, which spends too much, taxes too much and borrows too much.”
The budget passed on a vote of 55- 43.
During the debate on S. Con. Res. 13, Sen. Hatch offered the following amendments:
• An amendment which would ensure the continued safety of Americans from Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations by preventing Congress from passing legislation that would weaken or eliminate critical tools in the fight against terror. This amendment was agreed to by the Senate.
• An amendment which ensures the Food and Drug Administration’s White Oak Campus completes construction so that lifesaving drugs and treatments can get approved in months instead of years. This amendment was agreed to by the Senate.
• An amendment which would authorize funding for the National Health Service Corps, which improves health care access to medically underserved and rural areas. This amendment was agreed to by the Senate.
• An amendment that protects Medicare Advantage enrollees from premium increases and benefit reductions. This amendment was agreed to by the Senate.
• An amendment that would restrict federal funding from being used to move terrorists from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to the United States. No action was taken on this amendment.
• An amendment to show the American people the real cost of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). No action was taken on this amendment.
• An amendment that would limit federal spending to 20 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), where it is now almost 30 percent. No action was taken on this amendment.
• An amendment which would ensure that any legislation for health reform does not include the creation of a new government-operated health insurance plan. No action was taken on this amendment.
Hatch voted against the budget resolution (S. Con. Res. 13) that he called the worst and most irresponsible budget proposal he has seen in all his years in Congress.
“This budget will balloon the federal deficit by nearly $5 trillion by 2014,” Hatch said. “It will lead to the largest tax increases in history and burden this and future generations of Americans with a mountain of ruinous debt. It also will cripple the economy by killing American jobs and driving business overseas through excessive taxation.”
Hatch noted the president’s and Democrats’ budget will ring up more debt in the next five years than the combined amount created by every president since George Washington. By 2019, the Senator added, the debt in the plan could amount to 80 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), almost twice the historic average and the highest it has been since World War II.
“In 10 years, this budget will spend four times more on interest payments than on education, energy and transportation combined,” Hatch continued. “The president’s budget proposes annual deficits worse, in terms of percentage of GDP, than Guatemala, Aruba, Cuba, Nigeria, Belize, Poland and the Philippines.”
As bad as the whole proposal is, Hatch said, some parts are especially egregious. He particularly took umbrage at the cap-and-trade – the so-called climate revenues – in the proposal that will impose ruinous taxes on energy and industrial companies that will, in turn, be forced to pass on those extra costs to their customers and workers or go out of business.
“This tax, estimated to total between $1.2 trillion and $1.9 trillion over the next decade, will be the largest tax increase in world history,” Hatch said. “Placing that burden on business in the best of economic times is reckless; to do it during a serious recession is almost tantamount to sabotage. It certainly is synonymous with stupidity.”
Hatch said the budget also hikes taxes on a core of small businesses, which are responsible for creating 70 percent of the nation’s jobs and therefore are, in large part, the engine that drives the economy.
“That is sheer folly,” Hatch concluded. “So is the overall budget, which spends too much, taxes too much and borrows too much.”
The budget passed on a vote of 55- 43.
During the debate on S. Con. Res. 13, Sen. Hatch offered the following amendments:
• An amendment which would ensure the continued safety of Americans from Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations by preventing Congress from passing legislation that would weaken or eliminate critical tools in the fight against terror. This amendment was agreed to by the Senate.
• An amendment which ensures the Food and Drug Administration’s White Oak Campus completes construction so that lifesaving drugs and treatments can get approved in months instead of years. This amendment was agreed to by the Senate.
• An amendment which would authorize funding for the National Health Service Corps, which improves health care access to medically underserved and rural areas. This amendment was agreed to by the Senate.
• An amendment that protects Medicare Advantage enrollees from premium increases and benefit reductions. This amendment was agreed to by the Senate.
• An amendment that would restrict federal funding from being used to move terrorists from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to the United States. No action was taken on this amendment.
• An amendment to show the American people the real cost of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). No action was taken on this amendment.
• An amendment that would limit federal spending to 20 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), where it is now almost 30 percent. No action was taken on this amendment.
• An amendment which would ensure that any legislation for health reform does not include the creation of a new government-operated health insurance plan. No action was taken on this amendment.
