Obama’s Final Budget Doubles Down on More Spending and Debt

WASHINGTON – Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) issued the following statement alongside Republican members of the Senate Budget Committee today after President Obama released his final budget, which joins his previous fiscal blueprints in pushing for more taxes, more spending, more deficits and more debt for the nation.

“The federal debt totaled $10.6 trillion when President Obama took office,” Johnson said. “Since then, it has grown by $8.4 trillion. That means that the mountain of debt piled on our children and grandchildren has grown by about $37,600 for every second that Barack Obama has been in office. That is immoral. But worse, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects that our current course will add $103 trillion to the total over the next 30 years — or more than $108,000 for every second of the next 30 years. It's well past time to face the truth and stop this intergenerational theft.  We must not make future generations suffer for our inability to limit the size, scope, and cost of big government.”

“The President’s final budget continues his focus on new spending proposals instead of confronting our country’s massive overspending and skyrocketing $19 trillion in debt,” said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY).  “This budget joins his others by placing America on a fiscal path that is unsustainable and threatens our long-term economic growth. It is not the budget effort that hardworking taxpayers deserve, and our times and country require.”

"This budget continues to pursue more growth in government and more unrestrained spending,” Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) said.  “I have disagreed with many of the President’s initiatives during his presidency.  But our failure to deal with our fiscal crisis is paramount.  Over the last seven years we have seen an explosion of debt and an unprecedented growth of government.  We cannot continue to ignore our debt and simply try to spend our way into prosperity with borrowed money.”

“This partisan, fiscally irresponsible budget plan is not a serious one,” said Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA). “The President is proposing still more job-killing taxes to finance more government overspending, despite already having imposed nearly $2 trillion in taxes hikes during his time in office. Not only does it fail to balance our budget, but it also continues massive deficits as far as the eye can see. It is unfortunate that the President continues pushing an unsustainable, big-government agenda that will harm our economy and saddle our children and grandchildren with more debt.”

“The only positive thing about this budget request is that it’s the last one we will receive from President Obama,” said Senator David Perdue (R-GA). “Our country is facing a debt crisis and it is well past the tipping point. Americans cannot afford to send more money to Washington to pay for more government spending programs that are failing the very people they intended to help. Georgians sent me here to awaken Washington to this financial catastrophe. We can fix this mess and we have to start with changing the budget process. Every elected official in Washington needs to start saying four simple words Americans use all the time, ‘we cannot afford it.’”