President Obama presented his FY 2012 $3.73 trillion budget this week.
The 2012 budget actually increases deficits above the spending baseline over the next two years.
In the Obama budget, the federal deficit would hit $1.645 trillion for FY 2011 as a result of the federal spending increases that now total 25.3% of GDP. The Obama budget even ignores the recommendations of his own deficit commission.
The White House is proudly promoting the $2.18 trillion in debt reduction over the next ten years in the FY 2012 budget. If you take a closer look, the majority of the savings happen after President Obama's first term is over with the bulk of the cuts not taking effect until after 2016.
With entitlement programs (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, etc) accounting for about 60% of federal spending, the Obama budget also fails to offer any savings within these programs.
One of the biggest selling points for President Obama has been the fact that his budget which would cap discretionary spending at current levels for five years. This fact is no comparison to House Republicans' plan to cut $100 billion for the remainder of FY 2011 alone.
Finally, the Obama budget contains significant tax hikes which will continue to hamper economic growth and job creation. In his budget, the capital gains and dividend tax rates would rise from 15% to 20% and the highest income tax rate would rise from 35% to 39.6%. The budget also contains $300 billion in new taxes levied on energy companies, multinationals and banks.
President Obama's budget does not address any cuts for the remainder of FY 2011 which has been the focus of House Republicans.
The focus for Republicans this week is the Continuing Resolution that will come up for a vote on Thursday.
House Republicans have united around a plan to cut $100 billion in spending within the next seven months (the remainder of FY 2011). The spending cut is five times larger than any other discretionary spending cut package ever considered by the House.
The Continuing Resolution will be considered under "open" process giving lawmakers on both sides of the aisle equal opportunities to offer amendments.
You can read the Continuing Resolution here.
Last week, the House passed H.Res 72 "directing certain standing committees to inventory and review existing, pending, and proposed regulations and orders from agencies of the Federal Government, particularly with respect to their effect on jobs and economic growth."
You can read H.Res 72 here.
Call your Representative and Senator today to tell them it's time for Washington to make serious cuts.
We support the Republican plan to cut $100 billion for FY 2011!
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