Washington, DC – Today, President Barack Obama released an outline for his proposed $3.5 trillion budget for 2010.  The budget is anticipated to raise the national debt by $2.7 trillion.  Each year, the President sends Congress a budget proposal.  Congress will then use his suggestions to draft their own budget.  The President’s full proposal is expected to be released sometime in April.  Below is Congressman Frank Lucas’ reaction to the President’s proposal.

“Today, President Barack Obama outlined his $3.5 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2010.  There are aspects of his budget that I favor, including investments into renewable energy sources such as wind.  However, our country is currently suffering through an economic recession.  Therefore, we must focus on fiscally responsible policies.

“A concerning aspect of the President’s proposal is a $1.4 trillion tax increase.  Within these tax increases is a cap-and-trade proposal that will increase taxes by $646 billion and a plan to resurrect the death tax.  The American people are struggling right now and raising their tax debt will only further their troubles. 

“Our country is fiscally out of balance right now and our national debt grows at a rapid pace on a daily basis.  Now is the time to make tough choices- failure to do so will guarantee that we burden our children and grandchildren with trillions and trillions of dollars of our debt.  I look forward to working with my colleagues in Congress and the President throughout this budget process and will work to ensure that we create a fiscally responsible budget that will help the American people without drastically raising our national debt.”

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