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27, 2009Budget Borrows, Taxes, and Spends Too Much

By Congressman Vern Buchanan

If you believe as I do that the federal government should be smaller and more efficient,and that Congress should focus on balancing the budget and reducing the debt, thenyou will share my concerns about the federal budget proposed by President Obama.The administration’s budget borrows, taxes, and spends more than any other budget inhistory. It adds trillions of dollars to our national debt and proposes an unprecedentedexpansion in the size and scope of the federal government.Tax increases and deficit spending on big government programs won’t boost theeconomy. It will discourage job creation and burden future generations with anenormous debt.The President’s budget would raise taxes on almost every American household andsmall business. The last thing we should do in a slow economy is raise taxes on smallbusinesses, which create most of the jobs and on hard working families struggling tomake ends meet.The record $1.4 trillion tax hike would help fund the administrations aggressiveexpansion of the federal government’s role in health care, education and theenvironment.I support the President’s goals of affordable health care, quality education, and energyindependence. But I am opposed to increasing taxes and spending, and expanding thesize of government to a level we can’t afford.The administration has proposed a $725 billion increase in discretionary spending and a$1.2 trillion increase in entitlement spending. This is on the heels of a trillion-dollarstimulus package and a $410 billion omnibus – both of which I opposed.