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On the Issues
Budget
The federal budget is a reflection of our fundamental values as a
nation. Determining the priorities in which our government invests,
and who pays for that investment, is perhaps the greatest moral decision
Congress faces each year.
I believe we should be making strategic long-term investments
in education, scientific research, health care, transportation,
housing, environmental protection, and other building blocks of
our nation’s future. We should be simplifying the tax code
to ensure that everybody contributes their fair share, while extending
tax relief to small businesses and the middle class to promote
economic growth. For the sake of our children and grandchildren,
as well as the retirement security of the “baby boom” generation,
we should act now to begin reducing our staggering national debt.
Instead, the Bush administration and the Republican congressional
leadership have given us the worst of all worlds: drastic cuts
to critical domestic programs, a tax code that disproportionately
favors the wealthy, and deficits as far as the eye can see. Since
this President came to office, we have witnessed the greatest fiscal
turnaround in history, from a projected surplus of $5.6 trillion
to a projected deficit of $3.3 trillion—a reversal of nearly
$9 trillion. Despite all the rhetoric we hear about runaway
domestic spending, the majority of this turnaround can be attributed to
the administration’s tax cuts and to a war of choice in Iraq.
We simply cannot sustain the path on which President Bush has
set us, which has brought our nation to the verge of a fiscal
collapse.
We can successfully restore federal fiscal discipline, but only
if we are prepared to make tough, responsible, and fair decisions
about our nation’s priorities.
For more information on the federal budget, including charts,
graphics, and more, please visit the
website of the House Budget Committee. You can also access the Congressional Budget
Office's (CBO) latest Budget Outlook.
Related Information
Introduction to the Federal Budget Process
Chart: The Cost of Tax Cuts vs. The Cost of Social Security
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