CBO: President's Speech Not A Serious Budget Plan

To learn more: http://budget.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=248433 On February 15, the President submitted his Fiscal Year 2012 budget. The disappointing proposal was roundly rejected across the political spectrum for its lack of seriousness given the fiscal and economic challenges before us. On March 18, the CBO offered a preliminary analysis of the President's budget, noting that under the President's budget: - Federal spending never falls below 23 percent of GDP -- Washington will spend over $46 trillion over the next decade; - Cumulative deficits are $2.3 trillion higher than OMB estimated; - The debt increases by $1.8 trillion more than OMB estimate, nearly tripling the debt at the end of the budget window. On April 13, the President gave a speech in which he offered his opinion on The Path to Prosperity -- a budget that brought an unprecedented level of seriousness to Washington's budget debate. The President and spoke generally of deficit reduction proposals that his administration has sold as a new budget plan. But the President has not submitted a new budget to Congress. The President's initial budget proposal remains his budget plan for the United States. While many have falsely framed his April 13 speech as a new budget plan, Congress has not received from the Office of Management and Budget any of the proposals mentioned in the speech. All that the Obama Administration has produced is a list of talking points issued by the White House Press Office. As CBO Director Doug Elmendorf confirmed today at the House Budget Committee, the President's "framework" fails to meet the threshold of credibility that is required of serious federal budget plans. Until the President is willing to put forward a serious plan to avert a debt crisis -- a plan with real, credible numbers -- the nation will continue to suffer from a leadership deficit in Washington that is hindering our economic recovery and impeding job growth today.