By Congressman Joe Pitts
President Obama has been spending the last couple of weeks attempting to sell his massive new budget plan. He recently held a prime time news conference in an effort to convince the American people, and, presumably, members of his own party in Congress, to sign up for his big spending, deficit increasing, tax raising budget.
Let me just be clear. The President's budget spends too much, taxes too much, and borrows too much. This is the most fiscally irresponsible budget in the history of our nation.
It raises taxes on every American family and business. The President has talked extensively about tax cuts for 95 percent of working families, but his cap and trade proposal would more than make up for those cuts with massive tax increases in energy costs that will be passed on to everyone who uses energy in any form.
The levels of spending in the budget are just staggering. During the tenth year of his budget, spending for just one single year would reach $5.1 trillion. In fact, if you add up all of the debt that's been accumulated by the 43 prior Presidents over the last 220 years, it comes to just half of the deficit spending the President is proposing over the next six years.
The administration isn't being honest about the true cost of the budget. They are manipulating the numbers with an overly optimistic economic outlook and unrealistic tax revenue projections. These are the very budget gimmicks the President claims to have done away with. In fact, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office reports that the President wants to spend $2.3 trillion more than the White House claims.
There are fundamental philosophical differences at work in this budget debate. The President and his allies in Congress believe that taxing, spending, and borrowing is the best way to reach prosperity. They believe the government can make better choices than you can regarding everything from your healthcare, to the kind of car you drive, to how much energy you conserve.
On the other hand, Republicans believe you cannot tax and spend your way to prosperity. We believe in limited government and personal responsibility. We trust the American people to know what to do with their money better than government bureaucrats. We believe the American people are wise enough to make good individual decisions for their families, their communities, and their nation. We no not believe government bureaucrats need to tell us which doctor to go to, which car to drive, or how to care for our families.
The budget put forward by the White House would reduce the tax deductions some individuals can take on charitable donations. That means a transfer of billions of dollars from charities to the federal government. According to Harvard professor Martin Feldstein, this provision will drain $7 billion a year from the very charities that are needed most during this downturn and deposit it directly in the hands of federal agencies. Obama must never have read Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, where the famous Frenchman described the heart of our strength as a nation is our community and civic organizations that we today call non-profits.
Republicans in Congress know that we cannot oppose the President's plans without having good solid alternatives ourselves. This is why this week we released the Republican Road to Recovery, a document that lays out our principles for getting our economy back on track. It includes a commitment to curb spending, lower taxes, and control the debt. It calls for limiting the federal budget from growing faster than family budgets, providing universal access to healthcare, lowering taxes, and keeping energy and fuel costs low. It calls for an end to the bailouts and reform of our financial system, and keeping the cost of living low by fighting inflation.
During his press conference, the President continually used the word "invest," and spoke about moving toward an era of "save and invest." I don't understand how adding $9.3 trillion to the national debt can be called saving. That sounds like borrowing and spending to me.
When reporters pointed out Republicans' criticism of these new debt levels, all the President could say in defense was that President Bush ran deficits. This is true. Spending too much is one of the reasons Republicans lost control of the White House and Congress. In fact, I voted against a third of my own party's regular spending bills because I thought they spent too much. But that doesn't let President Obama off the hook for his plan, and his deficit spending makes President Bush's pale in comparison. The deficit in the first year of President Obama's budget plan is greater than all eight of the budget deficits during President Bush's administration combined.
This budget does not invest in our future; it spends the prosperity of future generations before they have the opportunity to make it. Much like the so-called stimulus bill, this plan is nothing more than "generational theft."
Rep. Joe Pitts is a Republican who represents Pennsylvania's 16th Congressional District.
