GOP Leaders Dismiss Obama’s Budget Plan
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The 10-year budget claims to cut $1.8 trillion from future borrowing, but actually trims only $119 billion from the 10-year, $46.5 trillion spending plan, Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House’s budget committee, said April 10.
The removal of the budget tricks “knocks you down to $119 [billion] in actual deficit reduction,” he said. Promised spending reductions are also postponed way into the future, Ryan said. Obama’s budget writers “don’t even start deficit reduction until four years after he’s left office,” he said.
“We are not seeing responsible leadership,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions, chairman of the Senate’s budget committee. The administration is “under the mis-impression that deficit don’t matter [and] that they can continue to borrow and spend.”
In his Rose Garden speech today, Obama touted his budget, saying “the numbers work. There’s not a lot of smoke and mirrors in here.” Read more from this story HERE.
President Obama’s budget includes $1 trillion tax hike and $744 billion deficit
By Brian Hughes. President Obama on Wednesday unveiled his $3.8 trillion budget proposal for 2014, calling for higher taxes in exchange for cost reductions in Social Security and Medicare, a proposal swiftly rejected both by his Republican rivals and Democratic allies.
The president’s budget — which would produce a $744 billion deficit next year — includes about $1 trillion in new taxes over the next decade, including nearly doubling the federal tax on cigarettes to $1.95 a pack, increasing the estate tax, and eliminating some tax deductions and loopholes for wealthier Americans.
The budget would raise the national minimum wage to $9 an hour and spend an additional $50 billion on public works projects that could generate jobs.
From the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday, the president said he would support cuts to entitlement programs only if Congress approves his proposed tax increases.
“If anyone thinks I’ll finish the job of deficit reduction on the backs of middle-class families or through spending cuts alone that actually hurt our economy short-term, they should think again,” the president said. “When it comes to deficit reduction, I’ve already met Republicans more than half way.” Read more from this story HERE.
