Treasury Dept. Set To Confirm Dems' Record Deficits Over Last 2 Years

The AP reports today, “The Obama administration is set to report Friday that the federal budget deficit exceeded $1 trillion for the second straight year, providing critics of government spending with fresh ammunition ahead of the midterm congressional elections. The Congressional Budget Office is projecting that the deficit for the 2010 budget year that ended Sept. 30 will total $1.29 trillion. That's down by $125 billion from the $1.4 trillion in 2009 - the highest deficit on record. Soaring deficits have become a problem for Democrats in an election year focused on the weak economy.”

So where did these deficits come from? Certainly any accounting cannot begin without mentioning Democrats’$817 billion stimulus bill, of which not one dime was paid for and which didn’t live up to Democrats’ promises that unemployment wouldn’t exceed 8% and that it would create 3.5 to 4 million jobs.

In an editorial earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal explained where else Democrats spent this borrowed money. “Once again domestic accounts far and away led the increases. Medicaid rose by 8.7%, and unemployment benefits by an astonishing 34.3%—to $160 billion. The costs of jobless insurance have tripled in two years.” Recall that Republicans spent months earlier this year attempting to get Democrats to simply pay for extending unemployment benefits, yet Democrats repeatedly refused.

The WSJ editorial also pointed out, “CBO adds that if you take out the savings for deposit insurance, funding for all ‘other activities’ of government—education, transportation, foreign aid, housing, and so on—rose by 13% in 2010. . . . But all we have to show for spending nearly 25% of GDP for two years running is a growth rate of 1.7% and 9.6% unemployment. . . . The 21.4% federal spending increase in two years ought to put to rest any debate about the nature of America's fiscal problem. The Pelosi Congress has used the recession as an excuse to send spending to record heights, and its economic policies have contributed to a lousy recovery.”

Discussing the sea of red ink Democrats are drowning the country in, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said today, “Americans are speaking out, and I share their deep concern about the size of government and the seemingly endless spending in Washington. After adding trillions more to the national debt, Democrats in Washington now want to take more money from the struggling Americans who need it most — and from the small-business owners across our country who create jobs. Saying no to more spending, more taxes and more debt is exactly what our constituents have been asking us to do. So we’ll keep doing it.”

These record deficits are the result of Democrats’ reckless spending. Yet Democrats are now looking to pay for it by raising taxes when Americans can least afford it, after refusing to cut other spending to pay for their spree. Americans are right to be fed up with Democrats’ fiscal irresponsibility and don’t deserve to be hit with higher taxes in the middle of a recession because of it.

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