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Hoyer: New CBO Projection Shows President Bush Has Driven Us Right Into a Perfect Fiscal Storm

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (MD) released the following statement this afternoon concerning a new projection by the Congressional Budget Office that shows the President’s budget would produce deficits totaling $2.75 trillion over the next decade:

“President Bush, who inherited record budget surpluses, has steered our economy into the gale-force winds of a perfect fiscal storm, and the economic course that he is charting today threatens to drown our children in a sea of red ink.  His economic stewardship is the epitome of irresponsibility, and the American people must seriously question his credibility when it comes to the economy.

“When President Bush took office, he promised us that he was committed to balanced budgets and debt reduction.  Now, the deficit is soaring and the debt is exploding, and all the President can do is make backward-looking excuses that exonerate the undeniable effects of his tax program.

“The Bush budget for Fiscal 2005 deliberately excludes the costs of making earlier tax cuts permanent for one obvious – and transparent – reason: to hide their true cost.  Today, CBO put a real price tag on making those tax cuts permanent – $1.3 trillion – and concluded that the President’s budget would produce deficits totaling $2.75 trillion over the next decade.

“At a time when our nation is at war, when we are running enormous deficits, and when millions of Baby Boomers are preparing to draw Social Security and Medicare benefits, the President has cast fiscal reality overboard.   It’s time that we acknowledge our fiscal challenges with honesty and candor.  I urge the President and Congressional Republicans to join Democrats in the weeks ahead in crafting a budget that is realistic and fair, and that meets the needs of our nation.”

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