Opinion

3,800,000,000,000

Friday, February 5, 2010

On Monday, February 1, President Barack Obama submitted his budget proposal for the coming fiscal year. This is the first step in the budgetary process, though the evolution will continue on for several more weeks as Congress proposes its own version.

Unfortunately, this budget got off on the wrong foot. The President's budget more than doubles our national debt, drives spending to a record $3.8 trillion, pushes the deficit to an unheard of $1.6 trillion, and raises taxes by more than $2 trillion over the next ten years. The budget also adds $14 trillion to our nation's debt over the same time period.

If the President and Congressional Democrats are serious about creating jobs and getting our fiscal house in order, they need to abandon their agenda of higher taxes and increased deficits.

The President's budget adds even more injury by cutting $40 million from the Market Access Program, which is a direct contradiction to his claim in the State of the Union address of wanting to help agriculture producers and small businesses increase their exports.

Serving on the House Agriculture Committee and having visited nations with whom we have pending trade agreements, I know well the potential positive impact opening new markets will have on our nation's economy.

Every dollar in agricultural exports generates $1.65 in economic activities such as transportation, financing, warehousing, and production. Nebraska's $4 billion in agricultural exports translates into $6.7 billion in additional economic activity. Apart from agriculture, Nebraska's export shipments of merchandise in 2008 totaled $5.4 billion. We owe it to our economy to open markets for U.S. goods and services.

The proposed budget also includes $36.5 billion in direct tax and fee increases on American oil, natural gas, and coal. These tax increases will only serve to reduce American energy production, increase energy prices, and destroy American jobs.

In addition, the President's budget ignores the $873 billion in new taxes the Congressional Budget Office estimates "cap-and-trade" legislation will impose on our economy. If these additional taxes were included, the President's plan would impose $3.15 trillion in tax increases over the next ten years. That's trillion with a "t."

Instead of taking this approach, I support an all-of-the-above approach to our energy policy, one which encourages research and exploration for all forms of American produced energy. Let's take this opportunity to do what is right for the future of our country by tapping into American energy resources and creating jobs here at home.

The budget does "freeze" certain discretionary spending at fiscal year 2010 levels for three years -- however, it excludes the vast majority of federal spending from the freeze. These savings would be less than one-half of one percent of the federal budget and will not start for another 20 months.

I support immediately passing strict budget caps which will limit federal spending. We must also take a hard look at entitlement and other mandatory spending programs which are rife with inefficiency and waste.

Congress and the White House must work together to begin the process of making a real difference in our nation's fiscal future. Unfortunately, the President's budget assumes we can borrow, spend, and tax our way back to economic prosperity. As history has proven, this path is unsustainable.

Fiscal responsibility isn't a Republican or a Democrat issue. It is our promise to all Americans not to waste taxpayer dollars or spend money we don't have and instead hold the line on spending. During these uncertain economic times, so many people have had to tighten their budgets and make tough spending decisions. Congress should be no different.

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  • I thought this educated idiot was going to have a balanced budget and what not.

    This guy is exactly what conservatives told us he was going to be...an inexperienced disaster.

    As his state of the Union speech rolled on it was clear he hadn't learned ANYTHING in the White House about how average people come and go to work on a daily basis and what drives an economy such as ours.

    He's still buried in his Harvard Law books figuring how he can rescue a country in money trouble by creating his own brand of utopian bliss based on a human drone-like existance where we all work the same, get paid the same, and require that same as the next person.

    What a freakin disaster this guy is.

    Adrian, you are doing a great job for us and I thank you for you humble public service. You have big support here in McCook Nebraska.

    -- Posted by Justin76 on Fri, Feb 5, 2010, at 5:28 PM
  • The Republicans held all 3 houses for 6 years and look what you gave us. You have NO credibility.

    Obama has 2 wars to pay for that Bush put on the tab.

    -- Posted by Meshedup on Sat, Feb 6, 2010, at 2:43 AM
  • No one here ever said republicans did any better.

    That's the problem with the whole war cry of you dems. You justify the stupidity and careless debatchery, so to speak, of the democrats just because the feds were spening a lot of money for 6 years.

    2 wrongs don't make a right.

    Here's where your dems are running off the road...

    You promised all this change and hope. You cut GWB off at the knees during the campaign to prove that what he'd done to us was just horrific.

    Now that you all the majorities, you're doing the same thing, only a whole lot worse. The spending is just unjustifiable and rediculous. They're just pimping the federal budget out to anyone who wants stick it in.

    The mojority of this country now wants something better, smarter, more experienced with making the right decision and not sitting around proving what a slow learner they are while the ship is sinking.

    You guys can't use that arguement anymore. Not after ALL the empty promises that this was all GWB's fault and you were gonna fix it, then you just took the country and made it worse.

    The war's are now owned by Obama as he has ramped them up when he said he wouldn't. He has slaughtered the hope of a balanced budget when he said he would reduce the deficit. He hasn't done a **** thing about punishing terrorists when they're getting American lawyers to get them out of trouble.

    Let's be sure were talking about the right group of people when you talk about who has no credibility.

    -- Posted by Justin76 on Sat, Feb 6, 2010, at 9:50 AM
  • Obama made a whole lot of promises and has not come through with any. He is just another tax and spend liberal and a far left one at that.

    Funny Meshedup Obama is continuing the Bush policies on those two wars isn't he? In fact he is following the surge moidel and trying something similar in Afghanistan.

    Fact is Bushes biggest deficit was around 500 billion, Obamas first one tripled it. Obama ran on how bad the deficit was and now he proposes to make it 14 TRILLION.

    Only in Washington spend more to fix the problem, borrow more and add to the deficit. When I don't have any cash I don't spend any more I eat ramen and mac and cheese.

    The republicans forgot what got them into office and went along with every Bush spending proposal he came up with. It got them tossed out of office. What we have now makes them look like penny pinchers and is going to get them tossd out on their ears this November.

    -- Posted by Chaco1 on Sat, Feb 6, 2010, at 10:27 AM
  • the validity of this "Bush's Fault" is losing ground quicker than the global warming bozos and all their fake data and anecdoltal evidence used to defraud the civilized world of all it's wealth.

    I like how Meshed says that Obama is paying off all of Bush's debt...

    Well that's either a huge lie or proof he has no idea what he's talking about.

    Not only is Obama NEVER going to attempt to pay off one single penny of a debt he inherited, he is adding to it at a dizzying pace. He has already put us into more debt in 2 budget years than Bush did in 8.

    Obama is clearly going to let someone 30 years after him try to dig out of this whole because he's clearly too educated to figure anything out at this juncture.

    And let's not confuse defict with debt. Bush also inherited a national debt, even though there was a balanced budget. There is a difference but thanks to the lying politicians, mostly dems, they don't want you to know the difference.

    I've specifically listened to the way they talk about these 2 things and noticed a pattern to try to confuse the simpltons among us.

    They tout Clinton for having a balancd budget but slam Bush for running up the debt. To be fair, Clinton also had a deficit, I remember it was about 4.7 trillion in 1995 when I was studying it in economics class. Even if we had a 500 billion annual surplus, it would take years to pay off 4.7 trillion with interest.

    I was hearing them use both terms, debt and defict, interchangabley. That is not possible, as they are 2 different things. Politicians have quite a knack for fooling people with their words, and boy in Obama great with words.

    Bush also inherited a national debt, but thanks to Islamic terrorists, he had to do something to keep this country safe and that costs money. Funny that THEY never get blamed for any of our trouble, only Bush. Are people afraid of being bombed for speaking out against radical Islam? More reason to snuff them out then.

    So, since Bush inherited a sizable debt, then had to go to war, how is that any different than Barry's problem? The difference is he has no idea how to come through with any of his idiotic campaign promises and everyone knows it. So let's blame everyone else for his shortcomings.

    See, I don't blame Obama for continuing the war. I think it's something we need to do. I just don't thinkit's fair for dems and they constituents to talk out of both side of thier mouths like we have here. I knew the whole campaign that Obama was never going to be able to pull out. Only an idiot would have thought otherwise. I knew none his campaign promises would see the light of day.

    I think it was Epictitus that wrote:

    An uneducated man blames others,

    An educated man blames himself,

    A wise man blames no one.

    Obama has a long way to go considering his Harvard Law degree and all.

    -- Posted by Justin76 on Sat, Feb 6, 2010, at 12:16 PM
  • What we need is for the 75-80% of Americans who don't vote to form a bloc and demand an end to partisan finger pointing and start bi-partisan solutions that are good for the country. Let's take care of America first and if there's anything left, help our friends and let our detractors get it out of the wringer on their own.

    -- Posted by old grouch on Sun, Feb 7, 2010, at 7:57 AM
  • Most of the people I know who do not vote are such uninformed idiots I thank god they don't.

    -- Posted by Chaco1 on Sun, Feb 7, 2010, at 10:42 AM
  • We have to fight back at the criminally insane dirtbags people!!!

    We have to take this fight to the streets evern if other people think we're loons.

    Most people have no idea how bad these politicians are putting the screws to us. We must fight back.

    The Tea Party movement is the best way to show them who's boss!

    And for all you liguini spine dems out there that want to toss Bush's later term spending at us, let's not forget that the last two years of Bush's presidency was this congress we have now and they were supoosed to change everything.

    Well, they chnged things alrighty. they changed us into the biggest financial boiling pot in the world. I would NOT want to have my money in the US right if I was and investor.

    These people should face the harshest punishment for misappropriations and their fraud agaisnt the American people.

    Let's take back this country and contain government like it should be.

    -- Posted by Justin76 on Sun, Feb 7, 2010, at 10:55 PM
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