Obama Misses Budget Deadline | Democrats Still Stuck On Tax Hikes | We Must Cut Spending

Today in Washington, D.C. - Feb. 4, 2012
President Obama missed the legally-mandated deadline to submit his budget to Congress for the fourth time in five years. The Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 requires the president to submit his budget request for the upcoming fiscal year by the first Monday of February – that’s today! In his first term, President Obama missed the budget deadline more than any other president. Today marks the fourth time in five years that the Obama administration will not adhere to this legal deadline. See how the President stacks up against past administrations, here, courtesy of the House Budget Committee.

Why are we paying his staff responsible for developing this budget? House Speaker John Boehner responded to President Obama's latest failure, "For the fourth time in five years this White House has proven it does not take trillion-dollar deficits seriously enough to submit a budget on time. In contrast, Republicans will meet our obligations and pass another budget in the coming weeks that addresses our spending problem, promotes robust job creation, and expands opportunity for all Americans. The president’s Senate now must pass a budget this year for the first time in nearly four years, or lose its pay. It’s long past time for the president to do his job. This week, the House will act on a measure requiring the president to submit a balanced budget, and we hope he uses this opportunity to offer the American people his plan to do that."

House Republican Study Committee Chairman Steve Scalise commented, "For the fourth time in five years, President Obama has shirked his responsibility and failed to file his budget request on time.  One step towards getting our economy back on track is ensuring that government does its job and meets its own deadlines." [Since the Republicans gained control] "The House has passed a budget each of the last two years and will continue to do our job on time again this year. Later this week, the House will take up legislation requiring the president to produce a plan to balance the federal budget. It’s time for liberals in the White House and Senate to do their jobs and propose a budget so we can have a serious conversation about the economic recovery of our country.”

According to Pew, 53% of adults say the federal government threatens their personal rights and freedoms; 43% say it does not. Of those who said yes, 31% believe the federal government is a major threat to their rights and 22% believe it is just a minor threat.  Congress' average approval for early- to late January was 15.4% according to the RealClearPolitics average. Average disapproval was 78.6%

The Senate reconvened this afternoon and began consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 47, the Violence Against Women Act. At 5:30 PM, the Senate will vote on the motion to proceed to S. 47.

The House reconvened and is scheduled to consider the following bills:
HR 297 — Children's Hospital GME Support Reauthorization Act of 2013
HR 235 — Veteran Emergency Medical Technician Support Act of 2013
HR 225 — National Pediatric Research Network Act of 2013

This afternoon, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell spoke on the Senate floor, “As I’ve said repeatedly in recent weeks, we need to find a way to control runaway federal spending and debt, and we need to do it quickly. This is absolutely essential if we’re to avoid a European-style catastrophe of our own, and it’s what we need to do if we’re serious about removing government obstacles that stand in the way of a robust recovery and new jobs. Reducing the debt will throw off a wet blanket that has been weighing our economy down for too long. This is a serious challenge, and it demands serious spending reforms from both parties in Washington. Yet if you were to listen to the Democrats, you’d think all of our ills could be solved by raising taxes on private jets or energy companies. These aren’t real solutions, Mr. President. They’re poll-tested gimmicks.”

But Democrats apparently spent the weekend continuing to talk about how they want even more tax increases. Reuters notes, “President Barack Obama said on Sunday more tax revenue would be needed to reduce the U.S. deficit and signaled he would push hard to get rid of loopholes such as the ‘carried interest’ tax break enjoyed by private equity and hedge fund managers.” And ABC’s George Stephanopoulos wrote, “Asserting that ‘the American people’ are on his side, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told me during an exclusive interview for ‘This Week’ that any that deal reached between Republicans and Democrats to avoid the looming sequester must – ‘without any question’ - include revenue. . . . Reid confirmed his position on revenue would apply to any deal put into place to avert a government shutdown or lift the debt ceiling as well. This puts him directly at odds with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, who said earlier this month on ‘This Week’ that the ‘tax issue is finished.’ . . .”

The Wall Street Journal editorializes today, “The man who runs the U.S. Senate gave a rare interview on Sunday, but his message was familiar: Before they reduce spending, Democrats want still another tax increase. Majority Leader Harry Reid told ABC's George Stephanopoulos that a tax increase is also his price for adjusting the terms of the automatic spending cuts scheduled to hit on March 1. . . . Federal revenues have been at low levels since 2009 because of the historically slow recovery, but they should come back to 18%-19% of GDP with any kind of normal growth. It'd be nice if Harry and the Democrats waited to see, but their tax appetite is voracious.”

Normal economic growth would do this country a world of good, instead of an economy that’s limping along and even contracted in the fourth quarter of 2012. Of course, tax hikes are not the way to bring about growth. McConnell was adamant when he said at the beginning of the year, “The tax issue is over. We resolved that a few days ago. . . .”

McConnell explained today, “[T]he larger point is this: the challenge we face right now is the fact that government spending is completely out of control. So to focus on a tax of any kind is to miss the point entirely.”

---

Tags: President Obama, missed deadline, democrats, tax hikes To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!