Press Releases

Congressman Larry Bucshon, a physician from Southern Indiana, released the following statement regarding President Obama’s budget request for FY 2015 that requests further increases in taxes, spending, and borrowing. 

Bucshon released the following statement regarding the President’s released budget: 

“The President’s budget represents another failure for American families – it is merely a political framework that fails to address the serious challenges we face as a nation. With his budget, the President asks hardworking Hoosiers to foot the bill for more Washington spending, significantly weakens our national defense, and does nothing to ensure our entitlement programs are still around for future generations.

“The House will once again present a budget to the American people that tackles the real drivers of our debt, grows the economy, and helps Hoosiers take home more of their pay. These solutions, not a campaign brochure, will make life easier for everyone.”

The President’s budget is one month past the statutory deadline representing the fifth time in six years that he has missed this deadline, the worst record in history. Furthermore, his budget was released without pertinent information including analytical perspectives, historical tables, and economic assumptions that are generally included and are a part of the discussion. According to the Washington Post, based on the White House assumptions, that were not released, “If the budgeteers get GDP growth wrong, just about everything else will be wrong, too, from the abundance of tax revenue to the size of the budget deficit” (Washington Post; 3/4/14).  

At this point, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has made it clear that he has no intention of presenting a budget proposal. This will be the fourth time in the last five years the Senate has failed to meet their budget obligation and is an attempt by Reid to shield his members from taking a tough vote before the 2014 midterm election.   

BACKGROUND:

Spending Surges

• We’re not in an “era of austerity.” Since 2009, the debt has gone up $6.8 trillion and spending has totaled $17.6 trillion.
• The President’s budget increases spending by $791 billion over the budget window and by $56 billion in 2015 above the Murray–Ryan spending agreement that he signed into law just two months ago.
• His budget will increase total spending by 63 percent from today’s levels over the budget window.

Debt Explodes

• President Obama’s budget never balances—ever.
• It would add $8.3 trillion to the debt over the budget window.
• Cumulative deficits would amount to $5 trillion, and gross debt would climb to an unsustainable $25 trillion in 2024.

Interest Skyrockets

• President Obama’s plan nearly quadruples interest costs, which remain the fastest growing item in the budget.
• Interest this year on the debt would be $223 billion, but would rise to $812 billion in 2024 under his plan, which will crowd out funds for national defense, scientific research, education and other vital priorities. 

Taxes Hiked (Again) to Pay for New Spending

• President Obama has already increased taxes by $1.7 trillion. Now, he wants another $1.8 trillion on top of that.  And this is after we had record revenue to government.  We have a spending problem, not a taxing problem.
• Roughly half of the new tax hikes would be dedicated to new spending rather than deficit reduction.
• A Booming and a Shrinking American Middle Class

The share of Americans over 16 who are working is at its lowest level since 1978. Real wages are lower today than in 1999. One in five U.S. households is on food stamps. But what do the President and his party propose? A health law that will remove the equivalent of 2.5 million full-time workers from the workforce; an energy policy that drives up costs and destroys jobs; a regulatory policy that sends U.S. jobs and wealth overseas; a tax policy that closes plants and factories; a welfare policy that discourages work; and a spending policy that that crushes economic growth and threatens the future of America’s youth.

Republicans believe in a different vision: one that shrinks the welfare rolls by growing the employment rolls. One that transitions struggling Americans from dependency and joblessness to work and rising wages. Republicans believe in making choices that not only help families today, but guarantee a safe future for their children tomorrow.

Background information courtesy the House Committee on the Budget, posted 3/4/2014.