President's Budget Harms Middle-Class, Neglects Seniors & Kids
President's Budget Harms Middle-Class, Neglects Seniors & Kids
Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) released the following statement in response to the president's FY08 budget:
"Middle-class working families didn't make the president's priority list. Rather than invest in programs that build the middle-class, he is spending recklessly on the Iraq War and tax cuts for the very richest Americans. His fiscal policies put American families and our country's future at risk."
Impact on the National Debt:
"The president is taking a risky gamble on future economic conditions when promising to close deficits in five years. Government spending shouldn't just rely on rosy economic outlooks. Instead, we need to make clear and sometimes difficult choices to control our economic future, primarily by reducing our reliance on foreign borrowing."
"The president's own budget shows that the interest payments alone on our national debt comprise nearly 10% of federal spending. That's a billion dollars a day that could go to education, healthcare and veterans benefits. The GAO recently reported that if we don't lower our national debt by 2040, all federal revenues would be needed to pay just the interest on our debt. We need to limit our debt so that we can invest the money being blown on interest in improving America's prosperity."
Implications of the War in Iraq:
"One of the greatest problems facing our nation is the enormous cost of the Iraq War. Already, we have spent $400 billion on the war, and the president has just asked for an additional $240 billion. Unfortunately, this figure doesn't even begin to honestly account for the real cost of the Iraq War. The bipartisan Iraq Study Group estimates that the final cost of the war will be $2 trillion, which includes ongoing care from thousands of wounded veterans.
"The president owes Congress and the American public a clear accounting of the war's total cost and exactly how the money is being used."
Consequences for American families:
"The president is failing to address the issues that matter most to middle-class families. His call to cut Medicare by more than $75 billion and Medicaid by $25 billion will put millions of seniors and low-income kids at risk. He cuts funding for California's hospitals by a devastating $3 billion at a time when our hospitals are already struggling to provide services. He also puts future generations at risk by once again calling for the privatization of Social Security. His call for a one-year fix of the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) while proposing permanency for a host of tax cuts that don't expire until 2010 leaves a growing number of middle-class workers in a lurch. If we don't fix the AMT, 21 million middle-class families will face a significant tax increase."
"This budget clearly demonstrates that the president's top priorities do not include the needs of American families."
http://mikethompson.house.gov/newsroom/index.asp?ID=133