Budget Fact Check: Long-Term Economic Plan for America's Future
04/01/2009
President Obama and House Democrats are offering a budget which lays the foundation for lasting prosperity and economic growth for America’s workers and families.
The House budget:
- Cuts the deficit by nearly two-thirds by 2013.
- Cuts taxes for middle income families by $1.5 trillion.
- Creates jobs with targeted investments and reforms in health care, clean energy, and education.
- Reduces non-defense discretionary spending to its lowest level as a percent of the economy in nearly half a century, and – in FY 2010 – by 1.5 percent below the President’s budget blueprint.
…The House Republican Plan Is No Alternative for the Future – Just a Continuation of Failed Bush Policies. It:
- Has bigger tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans than even President George W. Bush doled out and would repeal the Making Work Pay tax cut for 95 percent of Americans.
- Continues the Bush-level deficit. Even Rep. Paul Ryan, one of the GOP plan’s primary authors, admitted the Republican plan’s deficit would be “a lot.” [3/30/09]
- Repeals the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed earlier this year – halting funds to jumpstart our economy and save or create 3.5 million new jobs. In fact, states and local communities across the country are already reaping benefits from this critical legislation.
- Jeopardizes health care for America’s seniors and low-income families by cutting Medicare and block granting Medicaid funds to the states.
- Takes America in the wrong direction on energy, education, and health care—and decimates critical services such as public safety, homeland security and law enforcement.
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.
Previous Budget Fact Checks:
- Putting America Back on Track
- Keeping Our Promises
- No Comparison
- Restoring Fiscal Accountability
- A Responsible Way Forward
- Creating Jobs & Reinvesting in America’s Economy
- Responsible Spending to Grow America’s Economy
- Tax Cuts
- Small Business
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)