Obama Wants Us To Believe PAYGO Is About Deficit Reduction, But It Won't Stop His Tax-And-Spending Spree
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NBC's Chuck Todd: "But this is where [Obama and Congressional Democrats] send conflicting signals ... saying no we got to pi nch, we got to tighten our belt, we got to pinch pennies ... but it actually runs completely counter to the argument they made as to why they needed to do the $800 billion stimulus." (MSNBC's "Morning Joe" 6/9/09)
OBAMA SUPPORTING PAYGO TO VOICE CONCERN ABOUT DEFICITS...
Obama To Announce PAYGO Rules Today. "With the budget deficit soaring toward a record $1.8 trillion, the Obama administration is planning to propose tough new rules that would require lawmakers to pay for new initiatives -- including an overhaul of the health system ... Obama has said since taking office that he would support a push to enact budget rules similar to those that were in effect during the Clinton administration ... Obama plans to make good on that promise by proposing his own set of pay-as-you-go initiatives, known as PAYGO ..." (Lori Montgomery, "Obama Seeks Rules To Restrain Spending," The Washington Post, 6/9/09)
BUT OBAMA'S RUNAWAY SPENDING SPREE SHOWS NO SUCH CONCERN
Obama Said He Didn't Want To Make "A Fetish Of Perfectly Balancing The Federal Budget." Obama: "I am a progressive, but I always tell people that if you're a progressive you should be fiscally even more conservative than the so-called conservative. ... On the one hand I'm a strong believer in fiscal responsibility, on the other hand we actually have to make some significant investments in order to keep our economy competitive, and, uh, so what I want to do is institute some basic principles that will move us in the direct ion of fiscal responsibility, without making a fetish of perfectly balancing the federal budget." (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks At A Campaign Event, Austin, TX, 2/28/08)
Obama's Budget Would Add $4.9 Trillion In Public Debt Through 2016. "President Bush presided over a $2.5 trillion increase in the public debt through 2008. Setting aside 2009 (for which Presidents Bush and Obama share responsibility for an additional $2.6 trillion in public debt), President Obama's budget would add $4.9 trillion in public debt from the beginning of 2010 through 2016." (Conn Carroll, "Bush Deficit Vs. Obama Deficit In Pictures," The Heritage Foundation's "The Foundry" Blog, www.heritage.org, 3/24/09)
$9.3 Trillion: Cumulative Deficit For The Obama Budget. "The CBO Baseline Cumulative Deficit For The Obama 2010-2019 Budget Is $9.3 Trillion." (Michael J. Boskin, "Obama's $163,000 Tax Bomb," The Wall Street Journal, 4/2/09)
When Stimulus Was First Introduced, CBO Estimated Interest Would Cost $347 Billion Over Ten Years. "Under CBO's current economic assumptions and assuming that none of the direct budgetary effects of H.R. 1 are offset by future legislation, CBO estimates that the government's interest costs would increase by $0.7 billion in fiscal year 2009 and by a total of $347 billion over the 2009-2019 period (see enclosed table)." (Congressional Budget Office, Letter To Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), www.reason.com, 1/27/09)
Obama's Propose "Spending Cuts" Only Equal 0.4 Percent Of The Total Budget. "The total savings, if accepted by Congress, would represent 0.4 percent of Obama's $3.55 trillion budget." (Roger Runningen and James Rowley, "Obama Calls For $17 Billion In Budget Cuts, Resistance Likely," Bloomberg, 5/7/09)
NO WONDER OBAMA THINKS PAYGO IS A GOOD IDEA:
IT GIVES DEMOCRATS ANOTHER EXCUSE TO RAISE TAXES
PAYGO Gives Members of Congress an Excuse to Raise Taxes: "Every few years, Congress must review and renew most entitlement programs and many tax cuts. PAYGO sensibly says that renewing an existing entitlement program is not "new" spending and therefore does not need to be offset. However, PAYGO applies a different standard to tax cuts. It classifies tax cut extensions as "new" tax cuts that violate PAYGO and must be offset ... The blatant double standard of allowing entitlement spending policies but not tax policies to be extended constitutes a major bias towards higher taxes and spending." (Brian Riedl, "Obama's PAYGO Law Would Not Slow Spending or Budget Deficits," Heritage Foundation Web Memo #2312, www.heritage.org, 2/26/09)
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