CAGW Blasts Bogus 2013 Budget

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation’s premier taxpayer watchdog group, criticized President Obama’s proposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 budget for perpetuating his administration’s trajectory of reckless spending and for proving beyond any doubt that he will not keep his promise to halve the deficit by the end of his first term.

On February 21, 2009, at a White House summit on fiscal responsibility, President Obama said, “We cannot simply spend as we please and defer the consequences to the next budget, the next administration, or the next generation … that’s why today I’m pledging to cut the deficit we inherited by half by the end of my first term in office.” The President’s FY 2013 budget proposes spending levels of more than $1 trillion above projected revenues, resulting in a deficit of $1.3 trillion at the end of FY 2012. By the end of his first term in office, the national debt will have increased by $6.4 trillion. It took the country 227 years, from 1776 to 2002, to reach $6.2 trillion in debt. The budget would add another $11 trillion to the debt by 2022, at which time interest payments on the debt would reach $1 trillion annually.

“The FY 2013 budget marks the fourth straight year that President Obama has failed to address America’s entirely unsustainable habit of spending increases and debt accumulation in his budget requests,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz. “The budget projects spending of $47 trillion over the next 10 years, an increase of 62 percent from FY 2011 to FY 2022. If the President gets his way, real deficit reduction will not begin until FY 2018, two years after he has left office. Even if Congress agrees to stick to that plan, which is unlikely, the deficit will be still be $704 billion in FY 2022 and gross federal debt will have climbed to $25.9 trillion.”

“In other words, the President cannot bring himself to propose a budget that would halve the current deficit 10 years after his first term has ended. He would levy $1.9 trillion in new taxes, and his supposed spending ‘cuts’ come almost entirely in the form of reductions below previously-planned increases, rather than quantifiably lower spending. Further, by failing to produce any changes to entitlement spending, the President is ignoring the largest contributors to the federal debt. Given what is known about the coming explosion in entitlements, any budget that fails to reform them is irresponsible,” added Schatz.

“However, President Obama’s FY 2013 budget proposal is not completely devoid of merit. The budget calls for $24 billion in savings in FY 2013 and $520 billion over 10 years through spending cuts and consolidations. While CAGW supports many of these proposals, the amount is a pittance compared to what really needs to be done. Instead, the President should embrace CAGW’s Prime Cuts, which provides 691 recommendations that would save $392 billion in one year and $1.8 trillion over five years. Deficit reduction on that scale would show a commitment to protecting future generations from crushing debt that to date has been paid only lip service,” Schatz concluded.

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government. To learn more, visit www.cagw.org.