Budget Talking Points

Budget Talking Points

FEBRUARY 25, 2009

The American people are hurting, and Republicans want to work with the President to get the American people back to work.  However, the American people know we cannot tax, spend and borrow our way back to a healthy economy.

  • The amount of increased debt needed to pay for the Democrat spending in the last month alone is the same debt incurred over two centuries, between 1789 and 1978. This unprecedented amount of new debt is an unfair burden that will be placed on our children and grandchildren.
  • We're ready to "go line-by-line through the federal budget in order to eliminate wasteful and ineffective programs" as the President said in his address to Congress.

The Administration's budget is a job killer.  It raises taxes on almost all Americans in the midst of a serious recession.  Small businesses, family farms, middle class families, retirees, 401(k) owners and energy consumers will all be hit by President Obama's tax hikes.

  • Herbert Hoover raised taxes during a recession, and it led to record unemployment and the worst depression in American history.
  • The majority of filers targeted by these income tax increases are small business owners filing as individuals. Small businesses create 70% of new jobs each year.
  • Many retirees will be negatively affected by capital gains and dividend tax increases.

Cutting the deficit to $533 billion by 2013 is not "audacious."

  • President Obama's budget increases the national debt by $3 trillion over the next five years.
  • A $533 billion deficit in 2013 would be the highest deficit in our nation's history prior to this year.
  • Increasing wasteful government spending will not lead to prosperity and most certainly will lead to a real day of reckoning.
  • The President's budget claims $1.5 trillion dollars in "savings" from troop draw downs made possible by recent success in overseas military operations.
  • "It's easy to cut the deficit in half after you've quadrupled it." -Brian Riedl, Heritage Foundation
  • When starting a diet, you don't gain 50 pounds to lose 10.