Walz says Bush Budget Demonstrates the Wrong Priorities Walz says Bush Budget Demonstrates the Wrong Priorities
Press Release
Walz says Bush Budget Demonstrates the Wrong Priorities
Today, Congressman Tim Walz called President Bush's budget "out of step" with Main Street America and said that he believes the budget demonstrates that the White House still has the wrong priorities for America.
"Today, President Bush released a budget that is nothing more than an announcement to bounce the biggest check yet," said Walz. "This budget is more of the same fiscal mismanagement that has characterized his time in office."
According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the 2008 deficit could exceed $400 billion. In fact, the five largest deficits in American history (2004, 2008, 2009, 2003, and 2005) all have occurred on President Bush's watch. To deal with these deficits, the President's FY2009 budget calls for more than half a trillion dollars in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, steep cuts to other important domestic programs, increased fees and co-pays for veterans, more deficit spending to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, more deficit spending to pay for the war in Iraq, and more borrowing from foreign countries like China.
When President Bush came into office, he had a $236 billion budget surplus and the national debt was $5.7 trillion. It is projected that when he leaves office, the debt will be $9.7 trillion.
"President Bush created an astonishing $4 trillion in additional debt in just eight years. You really have to make an effort to spend money as carelessly as President Bush has done," said Walz. "The new leadership in Congress has gone a long way to restore some fiscal sanity to Washington, but we won't be able to make more progress until the White House has a new occupant."
"We are all in this together, which is why I'd like to see a budget that puts people first," continued Walz. "I plan to work with my colleagues to develop a more sensible budget that avoids increasing fees and co-pays for veterans and to prevent Medicaid and Medicare cuts. In times of economic downturn, our first priority has to be the people who are barely making ends meet and the President's budget doesn't subscribe to those values. We can do better."
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