John Boehner 8TH DISCTRICT OF OHIO

Last year, President Obama’s budget was widely-panned for spending too much, taxing too much, and borrowing too much.  Those hoping for a course correction – and real leadership from the president – have been let down by another budget that is bad for economic growth and job creation, bad for America’s seniors, and doubles down on the same failed policies that are hurting the economy.  Not surprising, reviews of this year’s “debt and doubt budget” are just as unfavorable as they were last year.  Here’s more:

The President’s Budget SPENDS TOO MUCH, Adding to the Massive Debt that Is Hurting Private-Sector Job Creation:

• “Four years of spending of more than 24% of GDP, the four highest spending years since 1946. In the current fiscal year of 2012, despite talk of austerity, Mr. Obama predicts spending will increase by $193 billion to $3.8 trillion, or 24.3% of GDP.” (The Wall Street Journal, 2/14/12)

• “[A]s a budget writer, Obama whiffed. … The budget calls for hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending. It shows deficits exceeding $600 billion in every year but one over the next decade, while the debt grows to $18.7 trillion.” (The Washington Post, 2/13/12)

• “It is a budget that spends a staggering $47 trillion over ten years and capitulates to the inevitability of a national debt larger than the national economy, assuring that by 2022 our interest payments alone will reach $1 trillion a year.” (The Weekly Standard, 2/14/12)

TAXES TOO MUCH, Imposing a $1.9 Trillion Tax Hikes on Small Business Job Creators:

• “The only thing that you can be certain will become law in this budget if Mr. Obama is re-elected is the monumental tax increase … on anyone or any business owners making more than $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples.” (The Wall Street Journal, 2/14/12)

• “It is a budget that hikes income, estate, and other taxes by $1.9 trillion over ten years, and uses that revenue not to reduce the deficit or shore up our existing entitlement commitments but on a raft of new stimuli that are as substantively dubious as they are politically opportunistic.” (The Weekly Standard, 2/14/12)

• “Under the president’s proposal, tax revenue as a share of GDP would rise to 20.1 percent in 2022, well about the historical average of 18 percent.” (Free Beacon, 2/14/12)

BORROWS TO MUCH, Failing to Address Major Drivers of Our Nation’s Debt & Jeopardizing Health & Retirement Security for Seniors:

• “In the problem-avoidance department, the administration continues to pretend that Social Security needs no fixes because it doesn't add to the budget deficit. Really? The administration's own numbers … show that the program is in the red and will drain the Treasury of half a trillion dollars from 2011 to 2017.” (USA Today,2/14/12)

• “Though the Pentagon and a number of Cabinet agencies would get squeezed, Obama would leave the spiraling growth of health care programs for the elderly and the poor largely unchecked.” (The Associated Press, 2/13/12)

• “Obama took a pass, again, on steering us toward the systemic reforms needed to truly tackle a $15 trillion debt that's becoming more perilous each year.” (Charlotte Observer, 2/14/12)

• “This is not a course toward fiscal responsibility. The budget is a blueprint of national entitlement that operates on the philosophy of spend now and pay later.” (The Detroit News, 2/1412)

Relies on BUDGET GIMMICKS & ACCOUNTING TRICKS to Conceal Its Real Cost to the Economy & Job Creation:

• “It [the president’s budget] counts on phantom savings from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's underpinned by tax increases Republicans won't let happen and program cuts fellow Democrats in Congress are all but certain to block. And it assumes rates of growth that the economy will have to become strikingly undead to achieve.” (Associated Press, 2/14/12)

• “The White House’s budget for fiscal 2013 begins with a broken promise, adds some phony policy assumptions, throws in a few rosy forecasts and omits all kinds of painful decisions.” (The Washington Post, 2/13/12)

• “[T]he president’s budget in fact does little to address the primary drivers of the national debt, relying heavily on gimmicks and accounting tricks to give the appearance of fiscal responsibility.” (Free Beacon, 2/14/12)

And Focuses More on the NEXT ELECTION than the Next Generation:

• “[I]t is a non-starter on Capitol Hill, where even Senate Democrats have no plans to take it up. It is, in other words, exactly what it was supposed to be: a campaign document. … As such, the rollout couldn’t have been more purely political if it had included a balloon drop.” (The Washington Post, 2/13/12)

• “[I]t's past time for the administration to lay out a credible plan for bringing the deficit and debt under control. Sadly, Obama's budget proposal shows that he'd rather wait until after the election to have that reckoning.” (Los Angeles Times, 2/14/12)

President Obama has proven once again that he is unwilling to lead on cutting spending, addressing long-term drivers of debt and creating a better environment for private-sector job growth.  His budget accelerates our financial crisis, increases economic uncertainty for job creators and jeopardizes health and retirement security for seniors. 

House Republicans are working on a better plan that “will focus on putting Americans back to work, protecting American seniors, and closing the massive deficits that have become a hallmark of President Obama’s time in office,” Congressman Boehner said yesterday.  Consistent with the Plan for America’s Job Creators and the Pledge to America, House Republicans will lead where the president has chosen not to, stop the government from spending money we don’t have, and reduce economic uncertainty so small businesses can begin putting Americans back to work.