Crapo: Record Deficits Ruin Budget Proposal

Washington, D.C. - Idaho Senator Mike Crapo, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, said today that three things are all Idahoans need to know about the Fiscal Year 2011 Budget Proposal released today by the White House: more spending, higher taxes and record deficits. Crapo said the proposal falls short of the spending restraint needed to address our skyrocketing debt.

"This budget proposes the opposite of what we need to revive the economy," Crapo noted. "This proposal contains a record budget deficit of $1.56 trillion. It calls for $3.8 trillion in spending. It contains tax increases on working Americans and still pursues a government takeover of health care. Even with our fragile economy, and unemployment over 10 percent, the proposal would raise taxes on small businesses beginning in 2011. Our current level of debt, and the path of future debt that we are currently on, is both unsustainable and unacceptable." Just last week, Crapo voted no as the Senate Majority approved a record debt increase to more than $14 trillion.

Crapo said the White House should provide increased incentives for job creation through tax policy, meaning tax relief, not tax increases. "There is a clear understanding that the worst thing we can do in times of recession is to increase taxes," he noted. "Spending has surged well beyond our historic average of revenue, and that is the cause of our deficits.

"This budget would continue the expansion of government by means of a second stimulus plan, when there is considerable evidence that the first one added nearly $800 billion to our national debt with little benefit for the economy," Crapo added. "We cannot spend ourselves into prosperity. More debt, higher deficits and more taxes are not the solution. We must encourage the efforts of the private sector to create jobs and not increase government. This budget will encounter very careful review in Congress and I encourage all Idahoans to review it closely."

Crapo noted his support for some of the energy provisions in the budget to increase nuclear power generation by expanding loan guarantees, but he disagreed with plans to permanently close Yucca Mountain with no alternatives for the disposal of nuclear waste. "I appreciate that the Administration is trying to address the nuclear waste issue by appointing a Blue Ribbon Commission, and the membership of the panel is, on the whole, quite good," Crapo noted. "However, that does not change the fact that having such a commission is unnecessary because the solution to our nuclear waste problem is obvious and clear. There is no scientific basis for closing Yucca Mountain; yet the Blue Ribbon Commission is prohibited from even considering Yucca Mountain as a possibility for future storage."