News And Sentinel: Congressmen Critical of Budget Proposal

Press Release

West Virginia's delegation to Congress has responded to President Obama's proposed $3.73 trillion budget for 2012.

Republican Reps. Shelley Moore Capito and David McKinley said the proposal neither solves high unemployment nor other economic calamities. Democrats Sen. Joe Manchin said the budget didn't go far enough to address debt and spending while Sen. Jay Rockefeller said deficit reduction shouldn't be on the "backs of hard working American families."

"The president's budget proposal lacks the fiscal discipline needed to get our economy back on track and people back to work," Capito said. "Democrats tried to spend their way to recovery, and all that led to was record debt, record deficits and a stubbornly high unemployment rate.

"Something isn't quite adding up when total government spending has increased by over 35 percent over the past four years, while the median household income has decreased by 4.2 percent," she said.

Uncertainty plagues the economy while business fear the administration "will look to them to cover their spending binge," she said.

"We have large amounts of capital sitting on the sidelines waiting to be invested in new projects, new equipment and new employees, yet businesses will not make a move if they think they'll be hit with new tax increases," Capito said. "Punishing small businesses because the Administration can't live within its means is unacceptable."

McKinley said the budget is disappointing.

"While our country is suffering from unprecedented unemployment and shocking national debt, the president is offering up a budget that lacks any true leadership," he said. "The FY 2012 Budget is a job crusher that calls for more taxes, more borrowing and continuations of the administration's reckless spending. This is simply irresponsible."

Spending must be put under control, he said.

"America is at a critical point and we no longer can afford to kick the can down the road. Washington must start treating the American people's tax dollars like their own and stop writing checks we cannot cash," McKinley said. "I urge the president to be less concerned with appeasing his political allies and more concerned with the state of our country. During these bleak economic times we need a leader who is willing to make those tough decisions regardless of the political outcome."

Democratic and Republican leaders have to put politics aside and not allow the budget debate to be driven by party interests for the next election, Manchin said. A bipartisan efforand reasonable choices are needed, he said.

"If we're serious about focusing on the right priorities, it just doesn't make sense that for example we would leave seniors in the cold by cutting funding for heating assistance while we spend $53 billion to build a high speed rail network that few Americans will ever use and generations would have to subsidize," Manchin said. "At the same time, Republican budget proposals that do not honor our commitments to our seniors and hard-working families don't make sense, either."

The focus has to be on reducing costs and decreasing the deficit, Rockefeller said. The senior senator said he supports proposals to cut waste, fraud and abuse including in Pentagon spending and programs that will help the economy grow and generate jobs, but opposes cuts to heating assistance programs and Community Development Block Grants..

"But we must not go down the dangerous path of reducing our national deficit on the backs of hard working American families," Rockefeller said. "Shared sacrifice also has to include those at the top by requiring wealthy individuals and multi-national corporations to pay their fair share."