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The House this week unanimously rejected President Obama’s budget. In this stunning rebuke, not a single person would support a proposal largely panned as out-of-touch.
Consider that, while this president has added more to the national debt than all of his predecessors combined, his budget offers little more than budget gimmicks to address our deficits. This can only be outdone by Senate Democrats who have failed to even pass a budget in 1,067 days.
At this pace, America is on the economic road to Greece. For the first time in our history, our national debt has exceeded the size of the entire American economy. The government borrows forty-two cents of every dollar it spends.
In the same situation, what would any business do? What would a family do? What would you do with your own personal finances? Obviously you would change your ways. This week the House was given that opportunity and we took it.
In passing the Path to Prosperity, the House acted to stem the tide of rising debt. Our plan provides an honest assessment of where we are as a country and provides long-term, common sense solutions for the challenges before us.
The Path to Prosperity cuts spending by $5 trillion compared to the President’s proposal. It gets rid of tax loopholes, eliminating special deals for special interests, and makes our tax code more fair, competitive, and balanced.
The Path to Prosperity reduces deficits by over $3 trillion from the President’s budget and pays off the debt over time. It recognizes our responsibility to the next generation to pay our bills and pay off our debts, leaving them with the same opportunities afforded to us.
The Path to Prosperity reins in government, bringing it to 20 percent of the economy by 2014 to allow the private sector to grow and create jobs. It does so without endangering our national security or pulling the rug from seniors and those who rely on the safety net. In fact, we preserve these important programs like Medicare and Social Security to ensure they are available for today’s beneficiaries and for generations to come.
Our plan stops wasteful spending and stops Washington’s mismanagement. For example, there are 44 different federal job training programs. If one worked, we wouldn’t need the rest of them.
The Government Accountability Office recently found 19 duplicative procurement programs at the Pentagon. Let’s get rid of them.
Over at the Department of Agriculture, we provide as many as twelve different feeding programs for a single individual. Why not consolidate them and make them more efficient?
The American people are tired of budget gimmicks and accounting tricks. They deserve better.
Today we have a choice of two futures. We can restrain Washington spending today or Washington spending will restrain us tomorrow. With the Path to Prosperity, we choose to restrain spending today and to free our children from a life indebted to China.
The challenges we face are great but this is still America. We are Americans and we have never backed down from anything. We can and will build a brighter future for the generations to come.
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