Budget Fact Check: Keeping Our Promises
03/30/2009
Partisan attacks claim that the House Budget doesn’t keep promises made to the American people…
In fact, the House budget:
Cuts Wasteful Spending:
House Committees are reviewing federal spending within their jurisdiction in order to identify and eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse and ineffective measures.
Protects taxpayer money with integrity initiatives to root out waste, fraud, and abuse, such as investing in efforts to crack down on provider fraud, reduce improper payments, and strengthen efficiency in programs such as Medicare Advantage.
Calls for major reforms in federal contracting and procurement, particularly at the Department of Defense where there have been billions of dollars in documented abuses of no-bid contracts and overpayments.
Makes Tough Choices:
- Cuts the deficit by nearly two-thirds by 2013.
- Reduces non-defense discretionary spending – over 10 years – to its lowest level as a percent of the economy in nearly half a century.
- Also reduces non-defense discretionary spending in FY 2010 by 1.5% below the President’s budget blueprint.
Cuts Taxes:
- Middle income families will see taxes cut by $1.5 trillion.
- 95 percent of American workers will benefit from the Making Work Pay tax cut – the fastest tax cut in American history – which hits paychecks this week. The tax cut is fully in place for the next two years and the President’s proposal to make it permanent is accommodated in the House budget, so long as it is paid for.
- Provides for small business tax relief.
Invests in New Direction Initiatives:
- Creates jobs with significant investments and reforms of health, education, and energy and sets the American economy back on track to prosperity, global competitiveness and success.
We can’t afford to wait. Failure to reform and invest produced eight years of the slowest job growth in three quarters of a century.
Other Resources:
- An Economic Blueprint for America (Speaker Pelosi)
- Restoring Fiscal Accountability (Speaker Pelosi)
- Top 10 Budget Highlights (Majority Leader Hoyer)
- Key Features of the Chairman’s Mark (Budget Committee)