Today in Washington, D.C. - July 26, 2010 - WH Budget Numbers Highlight Democrats' Fiscally Reckless Spending Spree
The Senate will reconvene today at 3 PM and resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 3628, the Schumer-Van Hollen “Disclose Act,” a partisan campaign finance bill crafted solely to help Democrats and designed to overturn the Citizens United Supreme Court decision. Tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday), the Senate will vote on cloture on the motion to proceed to the Disclose Act.
Last Thursday, the Democrats failed to get 60 votes to invoke cloture on the motion to concur in the House message to accompany H.R. 4899, the supplemental war funding bill, because of extra unrelated spending added to the bill. Earlier in the day, the Senate voted 60-37 to invoke cloture on the Landrieu amendment to the small business bill, H.R. 5297. But though President Obama has attacked Republicans for holding up the bill, Democrats have repeatedly pulled it from the floor to work on other priorities, such as this week’s action on the Disclose Act. Also on Thursday, the Senate voted 99-1 to pass H.J. Res. 83, sanctions on Burma.
Over the weekend, there were two troubling stories about our nation’s fiscal situation. The White House’s Mid-Session Budget Review came out Friday night, and the numbers are grim. The Washington Post summarized, “The federal budget deficit, which hit a record $1.4 trillion last year, will exceed that figure this year and again in 2011 . . . . The latest forecast from the White House budget office shows the deficit rising to $1.47 trillion this year, forcing the government to borrow 41 cents of every dollar it spends.”
That eye-opening number was accompanied by others, as CBS’ Mark Knoller reported: “New projections contained in the Administration’s Mid-Session Budget Review, show the National Debt doubling between now and the year 2020 when it’s forecast to hit over $26 trillion. The new budget numbers show the Debt will top 100 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, the total output of goods and services, in the year 2012. It’ll stay above 100 percent for the remainder of the decade.”
These are sobering reminders of the dire financial straits our country is in, thanks in large part to the out-of-control spending from the Obama White House and the Democrat majority in Congress. Indeed, The Wall Street Journal editors write today, “Democrats are simply spending much more, sending outlays as a share of GDP above 25% for the first time since World War II. The White House now says outlays will be higher in 2011, at 25.1% of GDP, than at the height of the stimulus in 2009 and 2010. This is an ironic tribute to the degree to which Democrats on Capitol Hill have been increasing spending willy-nilly below the media radar. The 111th Congress is the most spendthrift in a century outside of World Wars I and II.”
This is the result of Democrats consistently using deficit spending to pay for their priorities, such as the $862 billion stimulus bill, which failed to keep unemployment from exceeding 8%. But Democrats have refused to even pay for more modest spending, such as last week’s $34 billion extension of unemployment benefits, all added to the national debt. Republicans tried five times to get Democrats to agree to pay for the cost of extending these benefits, but each time, efforts were rebuffed, even when the offsets were those Democrats proposed to pay for other legislation.
Concluding their editorial today, the WSJ editors criticize Democrats’ dedication to deficit spending, and note that the White House’s own budget numbers show how this course of action is simply not working. They write, “To put it another way, Democrats have been undertaking a vast fiscal policy experiment, blowing out the federal balance sheet in an effort to show that a country can spend and tax its way to prosperity. Look no further than the numbers in the White House’s own budget review for the unhappy lab results.”
Tags: US Senate, Washington, White House, budget, federal spending, over spending, DISCLOSE Act, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Last Thursday, the Democrats failed to get 60 votes to invoke cloture on the motion to concur in the House message to accompany H.R. 4899, the supplemental war funding bill, because of extra unrelated spending added to the bill. Earlier in the day, the Senate voted 60-37 to invoke cloture on the Landrieu amendment to the small business bill, H.R. 5297. But though President Obama has attacked Republicans for holding up the bill, Democrats have repeatedly pulled it from the floor to work on other priorities, such as this week’s action on the Disclose Act. Also on Thursday, the Senate voted 99-1 to pass H.J. Res. 83, sanctions on Burma.
Over the weekend, there were two troubling stories about our nation’s fiscal situation. The White House’s Mid-Session Budget Review came out Friday night, and the numbers are grim. The Washington Post summarized, “The federal budget deficit, which hit a record $1.4 trillion last year, will exceed that figure this year and again in 2011 . . . . The latest forecast from the White House budget office shows the deficit rising to $1.47 trillion this year, forcing the government to borrow 41 cents of every dollar it spends.”
That eye-opening number was accompanied by others, as CBS’ Mark Knoller reported: “New projections contained in the Administration’s Mid-Session Budget Review, show the National Debt doubling between now and the year 2020 when it’s forecast to hit over $26 trillion. The new budget numbers show the Debt will top 100 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, the total output of goods and services, in the year 2012. It’ll stay above 100 percent for the remainder of the decade.”
These are sobering reminders of the dire financial straits our country is in, thanks in large part to the out-of-control spending from the Obama White House and the Democrat majority in Congress. Indeed, The Wall Street Journal editors write today, “Democrats are simply spending much more, sending outlays as a share of GDP above 25% for the first time since World War II. The White House now says outlays will be higher in 2011, at 25.1% of GDP, than at the height of the stimulus in 2009 and 2010. This is an ironic tribute to the degree to which Democrats on Capitol Hill have been increasing spending willy-nilly below the media radar. The 111th Congress is the most spendthrift in a century outside of World Wars I and II.”
This is the result of Democrats consistently using deficit spending to pay for their priorities, such as the $862 billion stimulus bill, which failed to keep unemployment from exceeding 8%. But Democrats have refused to even pay for more modest spending, such as last week’s $34 billion extension of unemployment benefits, all added to the national debt. Republicans tried five times to get Democrats to agree to pay for the cost of extending these benefits, but each time, efforts were rebuffed, even when the offsets were those Democrats proposed to pay for other legislation.
Concluding their editorial today, the WSJ editors criticize Democrats’ dedication to deficit spending, and note that the White House’s own budget numbers show how this course of action is simply not working. They write, “To put it another way, Democrats have been undertaking a vast fiscal policy experiment, blowing out the federal balance sheet in an effort to show that a country can spend and tax its way to prosperity. Look no further than the numbers in the White House’s own budget review for the unhappy lab results.”
Tags: US Senate, Washington, White House, budget, federal spending, over spending, DISCLOSE Act, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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