John Boehner: ‘Most irresponsible budget yet’
Congressional Republicans were quick to criticize President
Barack Obama’s fiscal 2015 budget on Tuesday, arguing that the document
does little to curb government spending while hiking taxes.
Though Obama’s budget proposal is largely meaningless in practice, it gave lawmakers an opportunity to either defend the president’s economic policy agenda or jump on him for spending and taxing too much.
Continue Reading
“This budget is a clear sign this president has given up on any efforts to address our serious fiscal challenges that are undermining the future of our kids and grandkids,” the House’s top Republican said in a statement.
The GOP repeatedly lamented that Obama’s budget did little to control spending for entitlement programs. And they jumped on Obama for not abiding by a two-year budget agreement written by two key lawmakers in December that helped return Capitol Hill to some sense of fiscal normalcy.
The president’s budget released Tuesday totals about $3.9 trillion, and its policy proposals reflect much of the economic opportunity agenda that has become a centerpiece of the Democratic election-year strategy both on and off Capitol Hill. Obama calls for increasing taxes on the wealthy, expanding tax credits for the poor and middle class and broadens government social programs.
(PHOTOS: What's in Obama's 2015 budget?)
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who struck that deal with Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.), was also highly critical of Obama’s budget document, calling it “yet another disappointment” that “reinforces the status quo” on spending.
“This budget isn’t a serious document; it’s a campaign brochure,” Ryan said in a statement. “In divided government, we need leadership and collaboration. And in this budget, we have neither.”
Those jabs were echoed by Senate Republicans. Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, dismissed Obama’s plan as a declaration that “deficits don’t matter, debt doesn’t matter, and that reality itself doesn’t matter.”
(Transcript and video: Obama's FY2015 budget remarks)
And South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the third-ranking Senate Republican, accused Obama of having “already given up” on trying to address the nation’s economic challenges and said the budget “merely panders to his political base.”
“Despite the fact that household income is down by $3,600 since the president took office, and the labor participation rate is at its lowest level since Jimmy Carter was president, President Obama is proposing more of the same policies to grow the government at the expense of the middle class,” Thune said.
Ryan, from his perch as the leader of the House Budget Committee, will lead efforts from House Republicans to write a new budget this year, which Boehner said Tuesday will be released “in the coming weeks.” Senate Democrats have written off writing a budget this year, arguing that the two-year agreement passed by Congress earlier this year negates any need to produce a new fiscal blueprint this spring.
Murray, for her part, said she “strongly” supported Obama’s budget and said it builds on the agreement that she reached with Ryan, not breaks it.
“The two-year bipartisan budget deal signed into law in December was a strong step in the right direction, but it shouldn’t be the last step we take,” Murray said.
Obama’s budget has no pretense that it’s meant to be a compromise document with Republicans. For instance, it no longer includes a request for enacting chained CPI, which would effectively reduce the amount of benefits received for Social Security and similar federal initiatives. That proposal, long loathed by the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, was meant to be an olive branch of sorts to Republicans in previous years.
Obama’s decision to insert policy provisions such as chained CPI in the past has earned him blowback from members of his own party, but on Tuesday, Democratic lawmakers largely praised the president’s budget vision for being consistent with Democratic ideals.
“The president’s budget reflects the top priorities of the American people: creating jobs, closing the opportunity gap, strengthening the middle class, and building an economy that works for everyone,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said. “This budget is a clear statement of our values as a nation, a nation that believes in fairness, opportunity, and hard work as the bedrock of our way of life.”
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters that Obama’s budget showed a “continuing commitment to economic opportunity, promoting job growth and strengthening national security — all three of which are priority items for us.”
Though Obama’s budget proposal is largely meaningless in practice, it gave lawmakers an opportunity to either defend the president’s economic policy agenda or jump on him for spending and taxing too much.
Continue Reading
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) called Obama’s latest plan “perhaps his most irresponsible budget yet.”
(Earlier on POLITICO: Obama releases $3.9 trillion budget)“This budget is a clear sign this president has given up on any efforts to address our serious fiscal challenges that are undermining the future of our kids and grandkids,” the House’s top Republican said in a statement.
The GOP repeatedly lamented that Obama’s budget did little to control spending for entitlement programs. And they jumped on Obama for not abiding by a two-year budget agreement written by two key lawmakers in December that helped return Capitol Hill to some sense of fiscal normalcy.
The president’s budget released Tuesday totals about $3.9 trillion, and its policy proposals reflect much of the economic opportunity agenda that has become a centerpiece of the Democratic election-year strategy both on and off Capitol Hill. Obama calls for increasing taxes on the wealthy, expanding tax credits for the poor and middle class and broadens government social programs.
(PHOTOS: What's in Obama's 2015 budget?)
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who struck that deal with Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.), was also highly critical of Obama’s budget document, calling it “yet another disappointment” that “reinforces the status quo” on spending.
“This budget isn’t a serious document; it’s a campaign brochure,” Ryan said in a statement. “In divided government, we need leadership and collaboration. And in this budget, we have neither.”
Those jabs were echoed by Senate Republicans. Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, dismissed Obama’s plan as a declaration that “deficits don’t matter, debt doesn’t matter, and that reality itself doesn’t matter.”
(Transcript and video: Obama's FY2015 budget remarks)
And South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the third-ranking Senate Republican, accused Obama of having “already given up” on trying to address the nation’s economic challenges and said the budget “merely panders to his political base.”
“Despite the fact that household income is down by $3,600 since the president took office, and the labor participation rate is at its lowest level since Jimmy Carter was president, President Obama is proposing more of the same policies to grow the government at the expense of the middle class,” Thune said.
Ryan, from his perch as the leader of the House Budget Committee, will lead efforts from House Republicans to write a new budget this year, which Boehner said Tuesday will be released “in the coming weeks.” Senate Democrats have written off writing a budget this year, arguing that the two-year agreement passed by Congress earlier this year negates any need to produce a new fiscal blueprint this spring.
Murray, for her part, said she “strongly” supported Obama’s budget and said it builds on the agreement that she reached with Ryan, not breaks it.
“The two-year bipartisan budget deal signed into law in December was a strong step in the right direction, but it shouldn’t be the last step we take,” Murray said.
Obama’s budget has no pretense that it’s meant to be a compromise document with Republicans. For instance, it no longer includes a request for enacting chained CPI, which would effectively reduce the amount of benefits received for Social Security and similar federal initiatives. That proposal, long loathed by the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, was meant to be an olive branch of sorts to Republicans in previous years.
Obama’s decision to insert policy provisions such as chained CPI in the past has earned him blowback from members of his own party, but on Tuesday, Democratic lawmakers largely praised the president’s budget vision for being consistent with Democratic ideals.
“The president’s budget reflects the top priorities of the American people: creating jobs, closing the opportunity gap, strengthening the middle class, and building an economy that works for everyone,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said. “This budget is a clear statement of our values as a nation, a nation that believes in fairness, opportunity, and hard work as the bedrock of our way of life.”
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters that Obama’s budget showed a “continuing commitment to economic opportunity, promoting job growth and strengthening national security — all three of which are priority items for us.”
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