Budget

Republicans set forth a budget alternative that embraced fiscal discipline, lower taxes and smaller government.

Deficit:
Under the Republican plan, deficits are $3.3 trillion lower for the 10-year budget period and fall below 3.0 percent of GDP over the 10-year period.

Debt:
The Republican plan borrows $3.6 trillion less than the Obama Administration's budget.

Total Spending:
Over 10 years, the Republican plan spends $4.8 trillion less than the President's budget.  Also, spending falls to 20.7% of GDP--about the historical average.

Discretionary Spending:
The Republican plan freezes nondefense discretionary spending in 2010-14 and allows for moderate increases through 2019.

Entitlement Spending:
While the Democrat budget increases entitlement spending by $1.4 trillion over ten years, the Republican plan slows the average annual growth in mandatory spending from 5.3% to 3.9%.

Long Term:
Under the President's budget the national debt exceeds 100% of GDP in 2030. By contrast, the Republican plan gains control of the debt, by never exceeding 75% of GDP over the next 75 years.  It also begins reforms to ensure the federal government can meet the mission of health and retirement security, extending the American legacy of leaving the next generation better off.

Taxes:
While President Obama's budget punishes investors by increasing taxes by $1.15 trillion, the Republican plan provides tax incentives to use private capital, not taxpayer dollars, to unlock credit markets and encourage private sector investment and job growth.  The Republican plan also suspends the capital gains tax through 2010, reduces corporate tax rates from 39% (second highest in the industrialized world) to 25%, and produces 2.1 million more jobs than the President's plan in the fifth year of the budget.

Energy:
Reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil is a main priority of the Republican plan.  Unlike the Obama Administration’s budget that imposes a national energy tax, this plan opens domestic resources to environmentally sound exploration and development, and encourages the development of carbon-free nuclear energy.

Defense and Veterans:
House Republicans increased the President's budget for defense by $5 billion, reserved a $50 billion placeholder for unmet needs in the Department of Defense and, and fully funded the House-reported level for the Veterans’ Administration ($540-million increase over the President).

Over the past several months, Democrats have racked up the highest spending in history, run up a deficit four times greater than last year's all-time-high, and put the United States on course to double the national debt in five years and nearly triple it in 10 years. In short, the Democrats passed a budget that spends too much, taxes too much, and borrows too much.

Democrat budget policy includes:

Health Spending:
The Democrat budget includes nearly $1 trillion in new health spending - a $634 billion reserve fund as a "down payment" for expanded coverage and $330 billion in spending for increases to physician reimbursements. The fund would be paid for in part through $318 billion in higher taxes on filers who itemize, "competitive bidding" for Medicare Advantage plans, and more government price controls on drug makers.

Massive Tax Increases:
The Democrat budget would increase taxes by $574 billion over five years and $1.154 trillion over ten years, as compared to extending current tax policies as called for in the Republican alternative. The Democrats' budget calls for massive spending increases. The cost of this new spending will be placed squarely on the backs of small businesses, family farmers and every American energy consumer.

Insignificant Savings:
In announcing his support for PAYGO, President Obama said, "Congress can only spend a dollar if it saves a dollar elsewhere." The President has tried to show his dedication to budget savings by asking federal agencies to reduce their budgets by about .002 percent of the total budget for 2009. This represents a mere drop in an ocean of spending.
 
Record Deficits:
The President will rack up a deficit of $1.58 trillion this year - four times higher than the all-time-record deficit of $458 billion last year. In July alone the deficit was $181 billion, a record-high for the month. The President claims that by 2015 he will cut the deficit to $739 billion, which would still be almost double last year's record. The President's deficit then shoots back up to $971 billion by 2019, digging deeper into the same hole as before. The Office of Management and Budget now estimates that the total ten-year deficit will reach $9.05 trillion - $1.94 trillion or 27% more than the White House originally estimated in May.
 
Debt: 
Under the Democrat budget, the debt held by the public would reach $13.12 trillion in FY 2014, or 71 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office.  The budget would also increase the statutory debt limit to $14.063 trillion in 2010, or 8.2% above the current debt limit.