President Obama’s 2012 budget plan, according to the White House, aims to trim the federal deficit by more than a trillion dollars over the next decade, with two-thirds of the reductions from spending cuts, and the other third relying on increasing federal revenue by limiting certain tax deductions and special- interest tax breaks. But Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, chair of the House Budget Committee, is astounded. “I’ve never seen anything like this before. In a nutshell, I call this one big presidential punt, because the biggest threat to our economy these days is our debt and our deficits,” Ryan told WRJN. “Big deficits today simply means more tax increases tomorrow and higher interest rates.”
Ryan called the budget a big disappointment. “For all the talk of freezes, he adds $8.7 trillion in new spending over the course of his budget. He nearly doubles the size of government from when he took office in this budget, and he adds $13 trillion to the debt after proposing another $1.6 trillion in tax increases,” said Ryan.
The Janesville Republican said said the President has even abandoned the recommendations of his own Fiscal Commission. “On just what we call domestic government agency spending, $353 billion more than even the fiscal commission recommended. So I’m really kind of surprised because I was very much hoping that he would begin to make proposals to get this debt under control, instead he just adds to it. That’s to me just an abdication of leadership.”
The Congressional Budget Office will look over the President’s spending plan, which Ryan says will then be used to put forth the Republican proposal, to be hammered out next fall, on discretionary spending. Ryan and Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Jeff Sessions will hold a budget press conference Monday afternoon.
Tom Karkow, WRJN