President Barack Obama’s proposed budget, unveiled today, projects deficit of more than $900 billion for 2013, meaning that he hasn’t lived up to his pledge to cut the annual shortfall in half in his first term.
Here’s what he said in February 2009: “Today I’m pledging to cut the deficit we inherited in half by the end of my first term in office. This will not be easy. It will require us to make difficult decisions and face challenges we’ve long neglected. But I refuse to leave our children with a debt that they cannot repay — and that means taking responsibility right now, in this administration, for getting our spending under control.”
In a prepared statement, U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts, a Republican who represents much of Lancaster county, said Obama’s budget “shows that he is far from accomplishing that goal. This budget raises taxes by nearly $2 trillion and still fails to come even close to balancing within the next decade.
“While the President says his budget will create an ‘economy built to last,’ trillion dollar deficits are no foundation for the future. We cannot have a healthy economy when our debt outpaces growth,” Pitts said in a prepared statement. “The American people deserve an honest debate on the best way to balance the budget. Unfortunately, the President’s budget is not a serious plan for debt reduction. Also, for a third year in a row, the Democratic-led Senate will not even attempt to pass a budget. By contrast, House Republicans will again put forward a budget that puts us back on the right track.”
