White House Delivers Another Irresponsible Budget
President Obama turned in his 2013 budget request a week late this year, but it's clear he did not spend the extra time looking for ways to reduce the deficit. After four consecutive years of trillion-dollar-plus deficits, the Obama administration crafted a budget that actually increases spending.
If the president's budget becomes law, the federal government will spend $47 trillion over 10 years. The national debt would increase from the current $15 trillion to $25.9 trillion by 2022 -- an increase of 68.9 percent. If the debt reaches that level, the interest payments alone will approach $1 trillion.
President Obama pledged to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term, but the statistics in his budget reveal just how badly his policies have failed. The annual deficit was $459 billion in 2008. The deficit projected for this year is $1.3 trillion. Under the president's proposal, spending would increase by $820 billion, or 27.5 percent, compared to 2008. If it weren't for dishonest accounting and budget gimmicks, the president could claim almost no deficit reduction at all. His budget counts $2 trillion in Republican-led savings that have already been accounted for, as well as another $1 trillion for spending in Iraq and Afghanistan that was never requested or allocated.
Former White House budget director and current Chief of Staff Jack Lew claims that "the time for austerity is not today." The Obama administration argues that reckless government spending is the key to job creation. Questionable enough to begin with, this theory has thoroughly been debunked in the three years since President Obama's $1 trillion stimulus plan went into effect. The president insisted that the jobless rate would drop to 6 percent by now if Congress would pass the stimulus. Instead, the unemployment rate jumped to 9 percent and still remains above 8 percent.
As if the spending increases aren't damaging enough, the White House is also calling for $1.9 trillion in new taxes. The president's policies would increase the tax burden from 15.4 percent of GDP to 20.1 percent by 2022. In a still shaky economy, increasing taxes on families and job creators is absolutely terrible policy.
Although the spending increases and tax hikes are indefensible, this budget proposal's most significant failure is the absence of meaningful entitlement reform. Spending on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security is by far the biggest driver of long-term debt. Failing to reform these vital programs not only accelerates the nation's slide into bankruptcy but also threatens the very existence of these benefits for future generations. House Republicans passed a budget plan last year that would save the programs without affecting benefits for those at or near retirement. The president and his party have had ample opportunity to contribute their own ideas. However, they've chosen to do nothing but criticize and offer the same tired, failed policies that have driven the deficit to the $1 trillion level four years in a row. That's if they offer any plans at all. The Democratic Senate has not even bothered to produce a budget in over 1,000 days, and Majority Leader Harry Reid says they have no intention of passing a budget this year either.
This lack of leadership is inexcusable. House Republicans will release our 2013 budget plan soon. If President Obama and congressional Democrats refuse to offer any ideas of their own, they should join our efforts to enact serious budget reform before it's too late.