By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
On Monday, February 2, President Barack Hussein Obama unveiled a nearly $4 trillion fiscal 2016 budget. US Senator Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) and US Representative Gary Palmer (R-Hoover) have both released written statements regarding President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2016 budget proposal.
Senator Shelby said, “President Obama’s budget blueprint is once again full of more taxes, borrowing, and spending at a time when our focus should be on empowering the middle class – not Washington. It is disappointing, but not surprising, that the President put forth an ‘unserious’ proposal today that would take our nation down an unsustainable path.”
Congressman Palmer said, “What President Obama has proposed is not a budget, it is a conglomeration of policies and programs that Congress has rejected during his first six years in office. The primary purpose of the nation’s budget should be to secure our financial future and assure that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely. Instead, the President’s proposal continues the path to economic ruin. I will give him credit for remaining consistent with his spending visions, which have been consistently rejected by the Congress every time he has proposed them.”
Sen. Shelby said, “I have long advocated for legislation that would require the federal government to do what hardworking Americans do every day – balance a budget. By reducing wasteful government spending and focusing on smart reforms to our nation’s tax code, I believe that we can restore confidence in our economy and foster job growth.”
Rep. Palmer said, “If the President were serious about working with the Congress, he would have set some reasonable priorities. What he’s produced is rhetoric about helping the middle class and a document that does not match that rhetoric. Increasing taxes and spending is not the way to help the middle class. We need to find ways to reduce the tax burden across the board.”
Rep. Palmer continued, “In a few months, the nation will be faced with another debt limit increase. We cannot look the American people in the eyes and tell them we need to increase the debt limit, while continuing to spend more.” “This budget proposes $4 trillion in spending, but the Administration acknowledges that projected revenues are only $3.52 trillion. Thus, if the numbers were true, we would be looking at a $474 billion deficit. Given this is only a projection, the deficit would be even higher. Finally, economic growth does not come from bigger government, but from fiscal discipline. This budget is anything but disciplined.”
The budget that President Obama sent to Congress would end automatic spending cuts and does not address the rising costs of Social Security and Medicare. President Obama said that his proposals were “practical, not partisan.”
The President calls for $3.99 trillion in spending and projects $3.53 trillion in revenue, producing a $474 billion deficit in the fiscal year which begins on October 1.
The budget includes $561 billion in military spending including $14 billion for cyber security measures. The President proposed a one-time 14 percent tax on approximately $2 trillion in accumulated foreign earnings that corporations have kept overseas due to the U.S.’s highest on the globe corporate income taxes. The President proposed a 19 percent minimum tax on future foreign profits.
Obama has proposed $320 billion in tax increases to finance tax cuts for low- and middle-income earners as well as new spending.
President Obama is on pace to more than double the national debt that he inherited from the Presidents who went before him.
Senator Richard Shelby is the Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. Congressman Palmer is the newest member of the Alabama congressional delegation and represents Alabama’s Sixth Congressional District.
