Tag Archives: Budget

News

Paul Ryan and Michele Bachmann will respond to State of the Union address

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Rep. Paul Ryan - GOP Ideas Man
Rep. Paul Ryan - GOP Ideas Man

Here’s the story from the Dallas Star-Telegram.

Excerpt:

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, a rising Republican star who has stirred controversy with his approach to budget-cutting, will give the GOP response Tuesday to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address.

The choice is aimed at showcasing the commitment of Republicans, who took control of the House of Representatives this month, to deficit reduction.

Ryan, 39, a seventh-term Wisconsin Republican, is known for his Roadmap for America’s Future, a plan for reducing federal budget deficits that includes letting younger workers set aside Social Security tax payments for “personal retirement accounts.”

In addition, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., a favorite of the Tea Party movement, will deliver a separate reaction to Obama’s speech on behalf of the Tea Party Express, one of the movement’s largest groups.

The broadcast, after Obama’s and Ryan’s speeches, will be on live streaming video at www.TeaPartyExpress.org or at www.TeaPartyHD.com.

Bachmann, who recently said she is considering seeking the Republican presidential nomination, was in Des Moines, Iowa, on Friday to be keynote speaker at a reception held by Iowans for Tax Relief, an influential anti-tax group.

Bachmann also planned separate meetings with Iowa politicians, including Republican Gov. Terry Branstad and state House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, suggesting that she may be laying the groundwork for a caucus campaign.

The Iowa caucuses, set for February 2012, launch the presidential nominating process.

“It shows she wants to be a serious player in the national debate,” Branstad spokesman Tim Albrecht said.

Here’s the official announcement emphasizing private sector job creation. (H/T Hyscience)

Excerpt:

In making the announcement, the GOP leaders noted that Chairman Ryan is a leading voice for fiscal discipline and common-sense solutions to cut spending and create jobs. Known for his thoughtful and detailed critiques of big-government policies, Ryan has helped put to rest the Democrats’ argument that more government spending and higher taxes is the answer to most of our nation’s ills. His commitment to free enterprise and limited government make him the right choice to outline a vision for how a smaller, less costly government will help create the right conditions for the creation of good, private sector jobs.

“Paul Ryan is uniquely qualified to address the state of our economy and the fiscal challenges that face our country,” said Speaker Boehner. “We’re broke, and decisive action is needed to help our economy get back to creating jobs and end the spending binge in Washington that threatens our children’s future. I’m pleased that Paul will be outlining a common-sense vision for moving our country forward.”

Leader McConnell said, “Paul Ryan has spent the better part of the last two years explaining exactly why the Democrat agenda has been so bad for jobs and the economy, and why we need to ditch the government-driven approach in favor of creative, common-sense solutions that put the American people back in charge. Chairman Ryan’s unique understanding of the fiscal problems we face, his command of policy, and his adherence to the principles of our nation’s founding make him an excellent spokesman for the path that Americans want Washington to take.”

Chairman Ryan said, “Delivering an address to the nation is a unique opportunity, and I am grateful to my party’s leaders for entrusting me with this responsibility. I am hopeful that the President will work with the new House Majority to cut spending, reform government, and restore the foundations for growth and job creation. More than rhetoric, we need results. I look forward to outlining a vision for a future that fulfills the uniquely American legacy of leaving the next generation with a stronger, more prosperous nation.“

I don’t know what to say… the Republican party is coming through for me in such an amazing way. Everyone who I like is being prominently featured! And they really are trying to do something different for a change. I’m overwhelmed! The only other person I really wanted to hear from is Marco Rubio!

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News

House Republicans set to unveil $2.5 TRILLION in spending cuts

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Republican Study Committee
Republican Study Committee

(Michele Bachmann and Marsha Blackburn are members of the RSC)

From the Daily Caller. (H/T Gateway Pundit)

Excerpt:

A number of the House GOP’s leading conservative members on Thursday will announce legislation that would cut $2.5 trillion over 10 years, which will be by far the most ambitious and far-reaching proposal by the new majority to cut federal government spending.

Jordan’s bill, which will have a companion bill introduced in the Senate by Sen. Jim DeMint, South Carolina Republican, would impose deep and broad cuts across the federal government. It includes both budget-wide cuts on non-defense discretionary spending back to 2006 levels and proposes the elimination or drastic reduction of more than 50 government programs.

Jordan’s “Spending Reduction Act” would eliminate such things as the U.S. Agency for International Development and its $1.39 billion annual budget, the $445 million annual subsidy for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the $1.5 billion annual subsidy for Amtrak, $2.5 billion in high speed rail grants, the $150 million subsidy for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, and it would cut in half to $7.5 billion the federal travel budget.

But the program eliminations and reductions would account for only $330 billion of the $2.5 trillion in cuts. The bulk of the cuts would come from returning non-defense discretionary spending – which is currently $670 billion out of a $3.8 trillion budget for the 2011 fiscal year – to the 2006 level of $496.7 billion, through 2021.

Going back to 2006 levels would reduce spending by $2.3 trillion over ten years. It is a significantly more drastic cut than the one proposed by House Republican leadership in the Pledge to America last fall, which proposed moving non-defense, non-mandatory spending for the current fiscal year back to 2008 levels, which was $522.3 billion. Jordan’s proposal includes the recommendation from the Pledge for the current fiscal year, which ends in September.

The proposal would cut the federal work force by 15 percent and freeze automatic pay raises for government employees for five years.

You’ll remember that 2006 was the last year when the Republicans were in control of the House and Senate. Remember what life was like at the beginning of 2007? Unemployment was around 4% and the budget deficit was around 200 billion dollars. Then Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid came along and the spending started. Cutting spending can be a positive thing when you take money away from unions. And think of the jobs when companies realize that there will be an end to all this spending and they won’t be on the hook for it. And children will have a standard of living that isn’t worse than the ones that their parents had.

But now the Republican Study Committee wants to put a stop to all of that. The Republican Study Commitee is the conservative wing of the House Republican caucus and that’s where all the good policies come from.

News

Democrat-controlled Congress added 5.34 trillion to national debt

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The last Republican budget was in 2006
The last Republican budget was in 2006

Here’s the story from CNS News, which the OFFICIAL NUMBERS from the Treasury Department.

Excerpt:

In the 1,461 days that Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) served as speaker of the House, the national debt increased by a total of $5.343 trillion ($5,343,452,800,321.37) or $3.66 billion per day ($3.657,394,113.84), according to official debt numbers published by the U.S. Treasury.

Pelosi was the 52nd speaker of the House. During her tenure, she amassed more debt than the first 49 speakers combined.

[…]When Pelosi was sworn in on Jan. 4, 2007, the national debt stood at $8,670,596,242,973.04. At the close of business on Jan. 4, 2011, her last full day in the speakership, it stood at 14,014,049,043,294.41–an increase of $5,343,452,800,321.37.

[…]When Pelosi became speaker in  January 2007 she was emphatic that there would be no new deficit spending.

“After years of historic deficits, this 110th Congress will commit itself to a higher standard: Pay as you go, no new deficit spending,” she said in her inaugural address from the speaker’s podium. “Our new America will provide unlimited opportunity for future generations, not burden them with mountains of debt.”

And a quick refresher about who controlled the House and the Senate at different times:

Year Congress President Senate (100) House (435)
2009 111th D D – 55*** D – 256
2007 110th R D – 51** D – 233
2005 109th R R – 55 R – 232
2003 108th R R – 51 R – 229
2001 107th R D* R – 221
1999 106th D R – 55 R – 223
1997 105th D R – 55 R – 228
1995 104th D R – 52 R – 230
1993 103rd D D – 57 D – 258

All government spending originates in the House of Representatives, so spending was a Democrat problem since the Democrats took over the House (and Senate) in January 2007. They own this recession.

And the reason that things went well in the Clinton Presidency is because the Republicans were in control of all the spending.