Tuesday
Mar242009
Republicans strongly opposing President Obama's budget
Tuesday, March 24, 2009 at 1:13PM
Senator Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) held a press conference today to strongly oppose President Obama's budget. Republican reports are predicting that federal debt will grow exponentially under President Obama's plan, reaching over $14.5 trillion dollars in ten years. Sen. Gregg described the plan as the largest tax increase in U.S. history, designed to "explode the size of government" up to 23%. On the repercussions of this budget, Sen. Gregg stated, "What he is passing on down the road to our kids is a country they can't afford, that's absolutely sure, and that's not right. And therefore we as Republicans think there should be a better fiscal policy."
Senator Sessions (R-Ala.) joined the conference in agreement with Sen. Gregg, explaining that this budget means "the era of big government is back, it means the era of high taxes is back, it agrees with the often criticized philosophy that debts don't matter." He went on to state that every year, the interest on national debt will increase so much, that soon it will be unsustainable.
Sen. Gregg concluded the conference by saying that Senate Republicans plan to introduce amendments in order to bring the deficit back to a responsible level. However, he explained, "it's not the minority's job to offer budgets, it's the minority's job to critique the budget. We intend to critique it, however, in an aggressive way which would point us toward a better budget." The amendments the Republicans plan to present will be aimed not only toward controlling debt but also limiting the expansion of government.
Senator Sessions (R-Ala.) joined the conference in agreement with Sen. Gregg, explaining that this budget means "the era of big government is back, it means the era of high taxes is back, it agrees with the often criticized philosophy that debts don't matter." He went on to state that every year, the interest on national debt will increase so much, that soon it will be unsustainable.
Sen. Gregg concluded the conference by saying that Senate Republicans plan to introduce amendments in order to bring the deficit back to a responsible level. However, he explained, "it's not the minority's job to offer budgets, it's the minority's job to critique the budget. We intend to critique it, however, in an aggressive way which would point us toward a better budget." The amendments the Republicans plan to present will be aimed not only toward controlling debt but also limiting the expansion of government.
Alan Greenspan Agrees That Debt Task Force Should Be Created
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Thursday to talk about federal spending, saying that creation of a Congressional task force to deal with national debt, is a good idea.
The notion of creating an entity to deal with the United State’s debt problems is one that has been tackled separately by both Senators Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) in collaboration with George Voinovich (D-Ohio), and Senators Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Judd Gregg (R-N.H.).
Thursday, Lieberman and Voinovich dropped their plans for creating a commission through the Securing America’s Future Economy Act, saying that Gregg and Conrad’s bill, the Bipartisan Task Force for Responsible Fiscal Action Act, would be the vehicle used to help Congressmen better understand the U.S.’ tax and entitlement program systems.
Senator Thomas Carper (D-Del.) asked Greenspan about who would best serve on Gregg and Conrad’s proposed fiscal team, and to that Greenspan replied it was not who was on the task force, but what the task force produces.
All of the senators at the committee hearing, in addition to the witnesses, expressed deep concern with the direction of U.S. spending, and each said that unless more preemptive measures are taken in the Congress, the United States will face more serious debt problems in the future.