Budget Fact #13

Fall Promises, Spring Budgets

Talk Of Fiscal Restraint Turns Into $8.8 Trillion In Debt: In the fall, the Democrats promised to take a scalpel to the federal budget and go "line by line" to enforce fiscal discipline. Yet, the Democrats' budget, along with the House version to be voted on this week, do little to nothing to curb wasteful spending. Indeed, instead of going line by line to cut spending, the Democrats went line by line to hide spending. In the end, the Democrats have crafted a budget in the House that adds $8.8 trillion to the national debt and raises taxes by $1.2 trillion.

Talk Of Making The Hard Choices Turns Into Choices Deferred Until Later: In the fall, the Democrats promised that they would make the hard budget choices to restrain spending. Yet in light of a budget that spends, taxes and borrows too much, the Democrats will only promise future "adjustments" to the budget.

Talk Of Tax Cuts For 95% Of Americans Turns Into Tax Increases For All Americans: In the fall and during the stimulus debate, Democrats promised a tax cut for 95% of Americans. However, as passed in the stimulus, that tax cut amounts to nearly $13 a week for an average family. Now, the Democrats' budge twill end this tax credit in two years. At the same time that they are ending their tax credit, the Democrats' budget institutes tax hikes on energy, small businesses, housing and charitable giving.

Talk Of Signature Initiatives Turn Into Reserve Funds For Future Tax Hikes: Rather than setting aside funding for new spending initiatives, the House Democrats’ budget establishes 17 deficit neutral reserve funds, twelve of which would permit unlimited amounts of new spending and taxes.

Posted by: Press Secretary