President’s Budget is Irresponsible

This week President Obama released his annual budget proposal for the federal government. And for the first time in years, he actually sent it to Congress on time. In fact, this is only the second time in his presidency he has met his legal obligation to submit this important spending plan on time.

While it’s the duty of Congress to pass a budget, the president releases his budget to outline his agenda for the year to come. Unfortunately, this agenda amounts to nothing more than a big government wish list. The president has laid out his vision for the coming year – more taxes, more spending and more debt.

Unlike American families, who must prioritize their spending, the president’s budget never balances – not 10, or even 20 years from now. This is simply irresponsible.

By not paying down our national debt, the interest on this debt will continue to grow, just like a loan from a bank. If the president’s budget were to take effect, the annual cost of interest alone would soon become larger than our nation’s spending on national defense, Medicaid or all other agency spending for that matter. This means it will become more difficult – if not impossible – to pay off our debt burden down the road. Simply borrowing more money is in effect taxing tomorrow’s generation to pay for bigger government today.

And most Americans don’t even want a larger federal government. Like many of you, I have greater faith in the ability of individual Americans to create prosperity than the government. That’s why several of my colleagues in Congress, including myself, have called for a balanced national budget. We need to practice fiscal restraint today so that ten years from now, we don’t find ourselves exponentially deeper in debt.

It’s common sense. The federal government should not spend more than it takes in. Rather than reaching deeper into the pockets of taxpayers, we need to sit down and figure out where money can be saved. However, President Obama has indicated he is content with continuing the trend of tax-and-spend government by proposing more than $2 trillion in new taxes over the next decade.

Many of these the taxes would indiscriminately hit ordinary Americans. For example, President Obama would like to raise the Death Tax to 60 percent. This will make it even more difficult for families to pass their farm or ranch down to their children or grandchildren. It’s absurd to place the burden of more government spending on the backs of farm families in rural America.

Today our national debt sits at over $18 trillion. Since President Obama took office, our national debt has risen by over $7.5 trillion. There’s no debating the fact that something must be done to address this, and I look forward to working towards a budget that pays for our nation’s priorities, while addressing the major issues that contribute to our national debt.