President’s Budget Charges America into Financial Ruin

During a quick glance of the news, it’s impossible to ignore the mounting crises overseas, like the dangerous uprising of terrorists groups in the Middle East and mobilization of pro-Russia rebels in Ukraine. While these worldwide crises are currently in the forefront and rightly viewed as urgent threats to our nation’s security, the sometimes overlooked yet increasingly dangerous threat to our nation’s future prosperity and security is living in the form of our exploding national debt.

Currently exceeding $18 trillion, our nation’s debt and the interest on that debt is beyond alarming, steadily paralyzing American opportunity and diminishing the future for our children and grandchildren. All the while in the midst of economic crisis, the president prefers to dream up more ways to spend money instead of recommending much-needed ways to save it.

The president’s skewed view of the American economy and apparent ignorance of the nation’s urgent debt situation was further confirmed upon release of his budget for fiscal year 2016 to Congress last week. While every president’s proposal is accepted as a wish list and is not binding, the document reveals a lot about that president’s priorities and where there could be places to negotiate and find common ground with Congress. President Barack Obama’s budget priorities sadly show a leader who is completely out of touch with the problems we are facing as a nation. Instead of saving money, the president’s budget document foolishly proposes more places to spend, putting an even heavier burden on the taxpayer.

For the fifth straight year and especially in light of the new majority, the president’s budget to Congress is clearly dead upon arrival and does not stand the slightest chance of becoming law. The document is clearly not serious either politically or philosophically. Taking a broad view over the 10-year budget window, the proposal increases spending by $2.4 trillion, requests $2.1 trillion in new taxes and ultimately leads to $8.5 trillion added to our national debt. With all his recommendations, the budget wouldn’t balance in five years, 10 years or ever.

Not only am I deeply concerned by the president’s recommended tax increases and irresponsible spending, but I am even more baffled that he failed to address several urgent items in his proposal. For example, the changes he recommends for the Social Security Disability Fund, which is set to go bankrupt on his watch, serve to pit seniors against the disabled in our country, and just serves to hasten the insolvency of the entire system. He also missed another opportunity to call for entitlement and tax reform or put common sense items like chained CPI on the table for negotiation.

As a member of the House Budget Committee, I participated in a hearing on the president’s budget a couple days after it was unveiled last week. This hearing gave members the chance to ask questions of Shaun Donovan, who is the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. When I spoke with Director Donovan, I reflected on past bipartisan success in cutting billions from discretionary spending, but I also pointed out that the mandatory or entitlement spending is the real driver of our debt and keeps growing. Without serious reform to entitlement spending, the pace of that growth isn’t going to slow down.

Getting our debt under control and achieving a balanced budget should undoubtedly be the joint priority of Congress and the Administration. However, instead of listening to the voices of those who elected the new Republican majority, who want lawmakers to rein in our nation’s spending, the president recommended a course that will ultimately charge America into financial ruin and dangerously put our country at the mercy of our creditors – many of whom are foreign countries like China.

Unfortunately, the president is more interested in leaving the difficult decisions for changing our debt trajectory for another leader.