Americans Deserve a Real Budget

Washington, D.C. - The President's newly-released budget proposal for fiscal year 2013 fails to address the most important issue our country faces, the $15 trillion-and growing-national debt.  Instead, it raises taxes by nearly $2 trillion, accumulates $11 trillion in additional gross debt over the next ten years and pushes us much deeper into the debt crisis.  Idaho Senator Mike Crapo, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement:  

"This proposal is fiscally irresponsible and dangerously increases our national debt.  It taxes too much, borrows too much and uses sleight-of-hand practices to claim false savings.  Using especially rosy economic forecasts, different baselines than the Congressional Budget Office and taking credit for spending cuts and caps already enacted by Congress, are just some of the gimmicks used in this budget. 

"We face difficult times in our economy, and there are costs associated with many of the difficult issues we debate.  However, every American is impacted as much by our mounting national debt as the day-to-day issues they face.  We must stop the tax-and-spend approach of the federal government.  Serious actions must be taken to address the crushing debt, but tax hikes and new spending are not the answer. 

"Congress must practice spending restraint.  We need a budget without gimmicks and with real reforms, one based on less spending, less borrowing and more economic growth.  No country has ever sustained the rate of borrowing we are currently engaged in, and real steps must be taken to address it, starting with a responsible, honest budget."