Tea Party Talking Points

Rory Cooper / April 03, 2009

DON’T BORROW, SPEND, AND TAX AWAY OUR FUTURE

The President’s Plan

• Blames Bush: President Obama correctly points out that he inherited a projected $1.2 trillion deficit in 2009 from President Bush and a Democratic Congress. However, his budget adds an additional $659 billion to that deficit, pushing it above $1.8 trillion. Although Obama has pledged to reduce the budget deficit to approximately $600 billion by 2012, that would still be $150 billion above pre-recession levels. Quadrupling the deficit and then cutting it in half is not “change.”
• Increases Spending, Again: After an $800 billion stimulus bill, the Obama budget increases spending by $1 trillion over 10 years, includes an additional $250 billion placeholder for another bailout, and calls for a Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) law while astonishingly violating that rule by $3.4 trillion.
• Expands Government: The 25% spending increase in the Obama budget represents the largest non-war government expansion since the New Deal.
• Leaves Deficits: The Obama budget leaves permanent deficits averaging $600 billion even after the economy recovers and doubles the publicly held national debt to over $15 trillion ($12.5 trillion in 2009 dollars).
• Cuts Defense: The Obama budget fails to fully fund the core defense needs of the United States. About $30 billion more is needed in the base defense budget.
• Puts Government in Charge: The $634 billion for health care reform in the Obama budget is only a “down payment” on an eventual government-run system. Experts believe the actual cost could reach $1.6 trillion over 10 years. This is in addition to the trillions already spent on health care this year in the stimulus and SCHIP bills. (more…)