Washington, D.C. -  Congressman David Price

Today, US Rep. David Price (NC-04), a former member of the House Budget Committee and current co-chair of the Democratic Budget Group, issued the following statement on President Bush’s 2006 budget proposals:

“If I were still working as a college professor, I would give this budget an ‘F.’

“First, the budget is an accounting failure. The $5.6 trillion ten-year surplus inherited by this Administration — which could have been used to strengthen Social Security — has been replaced with record deficits for as far as the eye can see.

“Second, it’s a moral failure. This President is placing the burden of our astronomical debt squarely on the shoulders of our children and grandchildren. His budget also cuts funding for first-responders and forces veterans to pay more for the health care they have earned. It maintains the pretense that domestic priorities -- from highway construction to scientific research -- are responsible for our budget woes, rather than the President’s own fiscal and economic policies. It squanders trillions of dollars on tax breaks for the wealthy and slashes billions in education, health care, housing, and environmental programs.

“Finally, this budget is a failure of honesty. The two issues that dominated the President's State of the Union Address -- Iraq and Social Security -- are nowhere to be found in this budget. We know that military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan will cost us billions this year alone, and the President’s proposal to privatize Social Security will cost trillions in coming decades.

“I ask this President: What will it take for you to own up to the consequences of your budget proposals and share the true cost of your plans with the American people?”