By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Senator Jeff Sessions (R) from Alabama says that President Barack H. Obama’s recently released budget “is bad for jobs, bad for seniors, and makes the economy worse. “ Sen. Sessions released a press release critical of the Obama budget Monday.
In the Press Release Senator Sessions said, “The President has not merely ducked from our fiscal and economic challenges, but—with his fourth straight budget flop—he has advanced policies that dangerously accelerate the crisis before us. His gimmick-filled budget fails to reduce the fast-rising debt, permanently entrenches unsustainable levels of government spending, and erects new barriers to upward mobility. His plan stifles economic growth, threatens the health and retirement security of millions of Americans, and commits the next generation to a diminished future.“
Sen. Sessions says that President Obama is calling for the federal government to spend $47 trillion in the next ten years. “After four straight years of trillion-dollar-plus deficits (breaking his promise to cut the deficit in half), President Obama’s budget worsens our fiscal crisis and speeds the country to bankruptcy. Three years after the passage of the President’s trillion-dollar spending stimulus, this gimmick-filled budget calls for more wasteful spending taken from workers’ paychecks or borrowed from abroad. The massive spending increases are greater than the few proposed spending reductions.”
Sen. Sessions said that the Obama budget would increase current federal spending from $3.6 trillion a year currently to $3.8 trillion in 2013 and would continue increasing federal government spending to $5.8 trillion in 2022 without ever posting a balanced budget.
Sen. Sessions said that Obama budget calls for $1.9 trillion in new taxes. Sen. Sessions said, “The President’s budget imposes a heavy cost for its commitment to intrusive government—diminishing economic opportunity by imposing the largest tax hike in history. Taking trillions more tax dollars from hardworking American families will further depress wages and destroy jobs at a time when millions of Americans remain out of work. In total, this budget imposes $1.9 trillion in new taxes on families, small businesses, and job creators—all to fund wasteful Washington spending.”
Sen. Sessions said that the Obama budget calls for an income tax increase of $1.4 trillion, a death tax increase of $143 billion, and other tax increases amounting to $340 billion, while still adding $11 trillion to the national debt, which is already in excess of $15.3 trillion.
Senator Sessions said that, “Under President Obama’s watch, the federal government’s total debt has surpassed the size of the economy—undermining job creation today and threatening a debt crisis tomorrow. The President’s budget ignores the drivers of our debt, bringing America perilously close to a European-style crisis.”
According to Sen. Sessions President Obama’s budget calls for a $1.3 trillion budget deficit this year, a $901 billion deficit in 2013, and there would still be an annual budget deficit of $704 billion as far out as 2013. Sen. Sessions said that the nation will have accumulated $6.4 trillion in debt during President Obama’s first term and if we adopted President Obama’s recommendations that nation debt in 2022 would be $25.9 trillion. By that time the annual interest payments on the debt would be almost $1 trillion a year.
Sen. Sessions also accused the administration of using budget gimmicks and tricks to claim deficit reductions. Sen. Sessions said, “The President’s meager deficit-reduction claims seek to take credit for over $2 trillion in savings already in law and the exploitation of discredited budget gimmicks, including almost $1 trillion in “savings” from money that was never requested and never to be spent in Iraq and Afghanistan. “
Sen. Sessions also warned that President Obama’s refusal to address entitlement reform jeopardized seniors. Sen. Sessions said, “By failing to put forward long-overdue reforms, his budget allows Social Security to fall into bankruptcy (imposing an across-the-board 23 percent cut on seniors) and gives unaccountable government bureaucrats control over cutting Medicare in ways that would result in denied care for seniors. No credible action is taken to lift the crushing burden of debt. This President’s empty promises are quickly becoming broken promises for millions of Americans.”
To read Sen. Sessions Press Release in its entirety:
