Our nation is $17.4 trillion in debt and out-of-control Washington spending has no end in sight. In fact, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that on our current trajectory we will return to $1 trillion annual budget deficits by the year 2022.
This situation is untenable, and threatens the nation that we leave behind for our children and grandchildren. The vast majority of Americans agree that the federal government should live within its means — that it should balance its budget, the same way American families are expected to.
This is why it was so disappointing that President Barack Obama’s FY 2015 budget proposal would increase federal spending and never balance, despite calling for an additional $1.8 trillion in taxes from hardworking Americans. In fact, the President’s budget proposal would add an additional $8.3 trillion to the national debt over the ten year budget window.
With our current fiscal situation so dire, you would think that Washington Democrats would take their jobs more seriously. But unfortunately, the Democrat-led Senate has decided to shirk its Constitutional responsibility and not pass a budget plan at all this year.
The American people deserve better than this, and they deserve elected representatives that will be responsible stewards of their hard earned money. That’s why I am proud that my House Republican colleagues and I have again acted where Obama and Congressional Democrats have failed to lead.
Last week we passed the Path to Prosperity – our vision to control Washington spending and help get our economy moving again so Americans can get back to work. This responsible budget proposal would cut spending by $5.1 trillion, balance the budget in ten years, and put us on a path to pay off the debt.
This plan expands opportunity through pro-growth economic plans such as tax reform, increasing domestic energy production, and regulatory reform to reduce the government’s burden on our small businesses. We increase defense spending and provide our troops the training, equipment and compensation they need.
Even more, this budget fully repeals Obamacare to clear the way for patient‐centered health care reform. We protect our seniors by eliminating Obamacare’s devastating cuts to Medicare, while reforming the program so that it does not go bankrupt for future generations.
Finally, we accomplish all of this and bring our books to balance without raising taxes on the American people. Under Obama’s watch, taxes have already been raised by $1.7 trillion and this has only produced a weak economy and continued deficit spending. These tax and spend policies must end if we’re going to get government out of the way of economic growth and on track to pay down the debt we have racked up for our children and grandchildren.
While this budget is unlikely to be taken up by our counterparts in the Senate, and certainly unlikely to be considered by Obama, my House Republican colleagues take our Constitutional duty to pass a budget seriously, and that’s why we’ve offered the American people our vision of where America can go. With responsible policies and strong leadership, we don’t have to be a nation mired in economic stagnation and suffocated in debt. Unfortunately, this is a vision that the President and Congressional Democrats fail to see.
