The Shadow
This past week, President Obama sent his budget proposal for fiscal year 2013 to Congress. A budget proposal which contains more failed attempts to tax, spend, borrow and bail our way out of the economic difficulties that the country faces. It is these same reckless fiscal policies that have so far failed to jump start our economy.
Americans have had to tighten their belts and carefully budget their hard-earned money. The federal government must do the same. However, the President’s budget proposal contains $47 trillion in spending over the next decade — $1.5 trillion of which is new spending. Under his proposed budget, the federal budget will never balance again. This kind of fiscal irresponsibility is damaging the future of our country.
Additionally, the President’s proposed budget will significantly increase the tax burden on American families and small businesses to pay for new wasteful government spending while heaping trillions of dollars of debt on future generations.
This budget proposal includes $1.9 trillion in new taxes which will hit small businesses, job creators, and families. The last thing American families and small businesses need right now are new taxes that make it harder to save, invest, and hire.
Finally, despite the urgent need to rein in our runaway national debt, the President’s budget adds $11 trillion to our debt. In the last four years our national debt has grown by $4.6 trillion. That’s the most rapid increase under any president ever.
In fact, if you divided the national debt between every American, we would each owe more than $48,000. This is staggering and must be brought under control.
Regrettably, the President’s budget is a recipe for fewer jobs, fewer opportunities and an increased federal bureaucracy.
Despite his promise to cut the deficit in half in four years, the deficit has grown by 190 percent from 2008 to 2012. In stark contrast to these reckless fiscal policies, I have consistently voted for the tightest budgets possible each year and I have long been a proponent of a Constitutional amendment requiring the federal government to balance the budget.
Families and small businesses all across our nation understand what it means to make tough decisions each day about what they can and cannot afford, and Congress must do the same when creating spending policies for the federal government.
The President has submitted his budget proposal to Congress but now it is up to the Congress to structure our federal budget for the coming year.
As your Congressman I assure you that I am committed to passing a budget that reins in government spending, protects our nation’s families and small businesses, and advances policies designed to grow our economy and create jobs.
