Pelosi: ‘President Bush Has Mortgaged Our Future With Record Deficit Spending on the Wrong Priorities’
July 28th, 2008 by Office of the SpeakerWashington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement today after news reports indicated that the federal budget deficit will reach a record high of nearly $490 billion. The Bush Administration is expected to announce the exact figure later this afternoon.
“President Bush has mortgaged our future with record deficit spending on the wrong priorities. An unnecessary and extraordinarily costly war in Iraq has turned record surpluses into record deficits. Meanwhile, our economy is in a severe economic slump as a result of this President’s mismanagement.
“The New Direction Congress has begun to reverse the President’s failed policies by working with the Administration to provide more than 130 million Americans with Recovery Rebates to strengthen our economy with a timely, targeted, and temporary stimulus check for Americans. And we reached bipartisan compromise to enact historic reforms to reverse our home mortgage lending crisis, and launch a new GI Bill to make the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan part of an economic recovery.
“This week, the President will sign the most significant housing reform bill in a generation, passed by the Democratic-led Congress. With this legislation, which responsibly expands homeownership opportunities and protects families against foreclosure, we are helping keep the American dream alive and helping turn this economy around.
“Despite some progress to address the economic challenges facing American families, a costly and unnecessary war and tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans leave our national budgets awash in red ink.
“The economic policies of this Administration have largely been a failure, and we must take our nation in a New Direction.”