Political News Updates by James Catledge

WASHINGTON – Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), the current House Republican Conference Chairman and former member of the House Budget Committee, today issued the following statement on President Barack Obama’s budget for fiscal year 2012.

“The American people are suffering trillion-dollar deficits and historic, dream-destroying debt because Washington spends too much, not because the American people are taxed too little.  The deficits and debt are symptoms.  Spending is the disease.

“For the third year in a row, President Obama’s budget should have been printed in red ink instead of black.  His budget clings to a failed economic theory that our nation can spend, borrow, bail out, and tax its way back to prosperity.  We can’t.  We cannot continue borrowing almost forty-two cents on the dollar, much of it from the Chinese, and sending the bill to our children and grandchildren.

“It is disappointing to the American people that as families are struggling to pay their mortgages, pay their health care premiums and send their kids to college, President Obama would add to their hardships with more job-destroying spending, taxes and historic levels of debt.

“After two consecutive years of trillion-dollar deficits — with another on the way — and 21 months of at least 9 percent unemployment, the time has come to permanently change the out-of-control spending culture of Washington.  In order to help Americans get back to work and allow small businesses to thrive, we need to respect the will of the American people and cut spending and stop borrowing from our children and grandchildren’s futures.

“House Republicans are taking one of the first steps to do that this week when we bring H.R. 1 to the floor, which will save more than $182 billion over the next twelve months.”

View more: http://www.gop.gov/press-release/11/02/14/hensarling-statement-on-president-obamas

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Delivering the Weekly Republican Address, House Republican Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) highlights the new majority’s commitment to creating a better environment for job growth by ending Washington’s spending binge and reducing uncertainty for those who create jobs. Chairman Hensarling highlights the steps the new majority has already taken to cut spending and grow the economy, and reiterates that there is no limit to the amount of spending Republicans are willing to cut. Chairman Hensarling is in his fifth term representing Texas’ Fifth Congressional District. Audio of the address is available here. Video will be available here for viewing and here for downloading once the embargo is lifted tomorrow at 6:00 a.m.

“Hi, I’m Congressman Jeb Hensarling of Texas, and I serve as Chairman of the House Republican Conference.

“Now down here in Texas, we have a saying: ‘when you’re digging a deep hole for yourself, stop digging.’

“Now this isn’t a rule the powers-that-be in Washington have been willing to follow, and because of that American workers are clearly paying the price.

“Under President Obama’s economic policies, we’ve seen not only our first, but our second trillion dollar deficit in our nation’s history, and we are well on our way to our third.

“These deficits are unsustainable and unconscionable. They add uncertainty to our economy. They weaken confidence in our government. And they keep job-creating investment on the sidelines.

“Now to help get our economy back to creating jobs, we need to end the spending binge in Washington and get government out of the way. We need to stop the digging. That’s what history tells us, it’s what economists tell us, and that’s what the American people are demanding.

“Instead of working with us to cut spending though, President Obama has asked Congress to yet again increase the debt limit. Now no one wants America to default on its debt.

“But if the President wants our help to pay off his debts, he’s going to have to begin the process of cutting up the credit cards. In other words, we need major spending cuts and major spending reforms.

“Unfortunately, instead of committing to these cuts and reforms, the President has called for – are you ready for this – even more ‘stimulus’ spending, as ineffective as it’s been.

“Now, you’ve probably heard the President talk about cutting spending, but what he’s really after is savings to pay for more quote-unquote ‘investments’ in yet even more ‘stimulus’ programs.

“You know, my questions for the President are these: Mr. President, how does spending us down the road to national bankruptcy help us ‘win the future’? And Mr. President, how does borrowing even more money from the Chinese make us more competitive?

“After two years, it’s pretty clear we can’t borrow, spend, and bail out our way to economic prosperity. No nation can. So while I appreciate the President’s ‘can-do’ rhetoric, his job-destroying policies won’t do, and that’s what matters most to American families.

“Now the new House majority is listening to the people and taking a responsible approach to cutting spending and growing our economy. Here’s what we’ve done since going to work on behalf of the American people just one month ago today:

“We voted to reduce the deficit by $700 billion and to reduce spending by more than $2.6 trillion by repealing the job-destroying health care law. This week, our Republican colleagues in the Senate kept their promise to fight for repeal.

“We voted to save taxpayers $617 million by ending taxpayer funding for political candidates and conventions.

“We banned Congressional earmarks and cut our own budget by five percent, because you’ve got to lead by example.

“We’ve changed the culture of the House by now holding weekly ‘YouCut’ votes to actually cut spending and eliminate wasteful government programs.

“And this month, we will put forward a continuing budget resolution that outlines billions of dollars in spending cuts because we pledged to cut spending back to the pre-’stimulus,’ pre-bailout levels.

“In order to get Americans back to work and create jobs, there is no limit to the amount of spending that we’re going to be willing to cut.

“Of course, Americans know you don’t simply ‘win’ the future, you’ve got to plan for it.

“And that’s what makes this issue so important. Washington’s spending binge isn’t just hurting our workers, it’s threatening our children’s future as well.

“We’ve reached a tipping point where we are firmly on the course to be the first generation in America’s history to leave the next generation with less freedom and a lower standard of living. In other words, loss of the American Dream.

“It doesn’t have to be this way. If we are principled, if we are courageous and smart, together we can preserve the torch of liberty for our children and our grandchildren and they will have a brighter future.

“Thank you for listening.”

Read more: http://www.gop.gov/press-release/11/02/07/chairman-hensarling-highlights-house-majoritys

House Republican Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) today released the following statement on the Congressional Budget Office’s report on the grim economic outlook for fiscal years 2011 – 2021:

“The CBO’s report paints a picture that is more dangerous than most Americans could anticipate.  The next fiscal decade will no doubt be our worst, with debt held by the public nearly doubling in size.

What is our leader in the White House doing about it?  Asking Congress to raise the debt ceiling, proposing new spending, and sticking future generations with a multi-trillion dollar tab.

My question for the president is ‘how is speeding down the road to national bankruptcy and borrowing more money from the Chinese going to make us more competitive?’

While the President and Congressional Democrats are putting us on track to double the size of our debt, House Republicans are taking responsible approaches to cut spending and grow the economy.  If the president is serious at all about controlling our economic crisis, he will follow our lead and commit to major spending cuts and spending reforms.”

Key findings in the report:

• By 2021, the gross national debt is estimated to reach $25.046 trillion, a ten year increase of $10.978 trillion, or 78 percent.  Debt held by the public is estimated to reach $18.253 trillion by 2021, a ten year increase of $8.838 trillion or 94 percent.

• The FY 2011 deficit is estimated to reach an all time record high of $1.48 trillion.  This would be the highest deficit on record and would be $186 billion or 14.3 percent above last year’s $1.294 trillion deficit.  The FY 2011 deficit would be $63 billion or 4.4 percent more than the previous record deficit of $1.417 trillion in FY 2009.

• The FY 2011 deficit is estimated to be 9.8 percent of GDP, up from 8.9 percent of GDP in FY 2010.

• Over 10 years, deficits are estimated to total $6.971 trillion.  In FY 2012 the deficit is estimated to be $1.1 trillion, the fourth consecutive year the deficit will eclipse the $1 trillion mark.  The lowest deficit in any year is estimated to be $551 billion in FY 2015, however, the deficit would then increase to $763 billion by FY 2021.

NOTE: Within the first month in the majority, House Republicans sent the following measures to the Senate to cut spending and reduce the deficit.

• Voted to reduce the deficit by $700 billion and to reduce spending by more than $2.6 trillion by repealing Obamacare.
• Voted to roll spending back to pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels, saving more than $100 billion over the next 12 months.
• Voted to ban Congressional earmarks and cut House budgets by five percent.
• Voted to save $617 million by ending taxpayer funding for candidates and conventions.
• Changed the culture of the House from having weekly votes to create more government programs and more spending, to weekly “YouCut” votes to cut spending and eliminate wasteful government programs.

Read more: http://www.gop.gov/press-release/11/01/25/hensarling-statement-on-cbos-budget

This morning, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2011 to 2021.  The annual report includes new baseline projections and budget assumptions for FY 2011 through FY 2021.  CBO’s report paints a picture that is more dangerous than most Americans could anticipate.  The next fiscal decade will almost certainly be our worst, with debt held by the public nearly doubling in size.  The following is broad overview of some of the top-line estimates and projections included in CBO’s report.

Record Breaking Deficits:

• The FY 2011 deficit will reach an all time record high of $1.48 trillion.
• The FY 2011 deficit will be $186 billion or 14.3 percent above last year’s $1.294 trillion deficit.
• The FY 2011 deficit will be $63 billion or 4.4 percent above the highest deficit on record, $1.417 trillion in FY 2009.
• The FY 2011 deficit will be 9.8% of GDP, up from 8.9 percent of GDP in FY 2010.
• Each U.S. household’s share of the FY 2011 deficit will be $12,886.
• Over 10 years (FY 2012 – FY 2021), deficits will total $6.971 trillion.  In August, CBO estimated that deficits over 10 years would total $6.246 trillion.  In just five months, the projection increased by $725 billion or 12 percent.
• The average annual deficit between FY 2011 and FY 2021 will be $768.4 billion or $6,688 per U.S. household.
• The lowest annual deficit in any given fiscal year will be $551 billion in FY 2015.
• After bottoming out in FY 2015, annual deficits will then increase to $768 billion by FY 2021.

Out-of-Control Spending:

• Spending in FY 2011 will reach an all time high of $3.708 trillion.
• Each U.S. household’s share of FY 2011 spending will be $32,292.
• Spending in FY 2011 will be $252 billion or 7.3 percent higher than last year’s $3.456 trillion total.
• Spending in FY 2011 will be $187 billion or 5.3 percent higher than the record set in FY 2009.
• Spending in FY 2011 will consume 24.7 percent of GDP, up from 23.8 percent in FY 2010.
• Over ten years (FY2012 – FY2021), spending will total $46.055 trillion as compared $39.084 trillion in revenues over the same period.
• Over ten years, annual government spending will consume an average of 23.5 percent of GDP, 3.5 percent higher than the post-World War II average.
• Annual spending will average $4.524 trillion between FY 2011 and FY 2021.

Skyrocketing Debt:

• By 2021, the gross national debt—which includes inter-governmental accounts—is estimated to reach $25.046 trillion, a ten year increase of $10.978 trillion or 78 percent.
• By 2021, the gross national debt will be 105 percent of national GDP.
• Debt held by the public is estimated to reach $18.253 trillion by 2021, a ten year increase of $8.838 trillion or 94 percent.
• By 2021, public debt will increase as a share of GDP from 63 percent to 77 percent.
• In FY 2011, interest payments on the debt alone will total $225 billion or 15 percent of the annual deficit.

View article: http://www.gop.gov/policy-news/11/01/26/an-overview-of-cbos-january

Against the wishes of the American people, Democrats passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ObamaCare”) into law last year promising, among other things, to “bend the cost curve” of medical care.  Yet the ironically-titled law, in its 2,800 pages of federal intervention into the economy, is failing to “protect” anyone as health insurance becomes even less “affordable.”  Even worse, ObamaCare is restraining an economic recovery and destroying jobs by burdening entrepreneurs and employers with tax increases and costly regulations.  Congress can help end the economic uncertainty by keeping our Pledge to America and repealing this disastrous law.

Restraining Employment—ObamaCare’s cost-increasing and job-destroying regulations are an economic albatross inhibiting a return to prosperity.  In addition to the well-documented cost burden of its “1099 provision” requiring excessive IRS forms from small businesses, ObamaCare discourages growth in other ways, such as the $2,000 per employee tax on businesses with more than 50 employees that fail to offer health insurance.  Unfortunately, this employer mandate will disproportionately affect the most vulnerable workers in the economy.  The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) noted in its August 2010 Budget and Economic Outlook:

“Those penalties, whose amounts are based on the number of full-time workers in the firm, will, over time, generally be passed on to workers through reductions in wages or other forms of compensation.  However, firms generally cannot reduce workers’ wages below the minimum wage, which will probably cause some employers to respond by hiring fewer low-wage workers.”

Small employers that cannot afford to provide health coverage nor absorb the tax are likely to avoid hiring a 51^st employee.  Former chief economist for the U.S. Department of Labor, Diana Furchtgott-Roth, wrote in a recent op-ed for the Washington Examiner: “That’s no way to increase employment, especially since small business is supposed to be the engine of job growth in the economy.”

Spending Up, Growth Down—Economists of all stripes are warning that the private sector’s willingness to expand and hire more workers is directly correlated to the federal government’s ability to control spending and reduce the massive national debt.  This economic principle is known as “crowding out,” wherein deficit spending by the government is accompanied by a reduction in private sector consumption or investment.  The costs of implementing ObamaCare, despite Democrats’ claims that it lowers the deficit, do not bode well for economic growth.

An analysis by the House Budget Committee estimates that implementation will result in $2.6 trillion of spending.  The bill will cost drastically more than the original CBO estimate due to the accounting gimmickry mandated in CBO’s analysis.  The House Budget Committee estimates that ObamaCare will actually increase the deficit by $701 billion over the next ten years.  This sobering figure comes on top of CBO’s own admission that ObamaCare “does not substantially diminish” the pressure of rising health costs on the federal budget during the next few decades and beyond.

Read more: http://www.gop.gov/policy-news/11/01/19/obamacares-economic-destruction