AFP Responds to President Obama's Budget

February 19, 2012

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 13, 2012
CONTACT: Levi Russell at LRussell@afphq.org or (703) 224-3200

Americans for Prosperity Responds to President Obama’s Budget

“You can’t tax your way to prosperity, or spend your way out of debt.”

Washington, DC – Today Americans for Prosperity – - the nation’s premier advocate of economic freedom, responded to President Obama’s budget proposal. www.AmericansForProsperity.org. The message from the group is that this budget proposal spends too much, taxes too much, relies on budget and accounting gimmicks, and fails to address the nation’s biggest challenges.

Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips said, “President Obama didn’t bother to address the skyrocketing national debt and out of control spending during his State of the Union speech, and now we know why. Like his last budget proposal that was unanimously rejected even by Harry Reid’s Senate, this budget is not serious, does not address the fiscal crisis we face, and does nothing to put the country on the path to growth and prosperity.”

The budget calls for $1.9 trillion in higher taxes while the economy struggles to regain its footing. Even with all these new taxes, the President foresees a $1.3 trillion deficit for this year; the fourth straight year with a trillion-dollar deficit. For 2013, Obama’s budget projects a deficit of $901 billion, but if we strip out the budget’s unrealistic assumptions, yet another trillion-dollar-plus deficit is nearly certain.

The President uses rosy estimates to make his budget look better than it really is. For three straight years, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office issued an analysis of the President’s budget. They found the deficits were actually 20 percent higher than the President claimed.

The budget also relies on accounting tricks, such as $617 billion in so-called “war savings” from slowing U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. Counting money we never planned to spend as savings is disingenuous at best.

Tim Phillips concluded, “President Obama thinks you can tax your way to prosperity and spend your way out of debt, but the real world doesn’t work like that.”

For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Levi Russell at (703)224-3200 or LRussell@afphq.org

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a nationwide organization of citizen-leaders committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and intrusiveness of government is the best way to promote individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. Americans for Prosperity does not support or oppose candidates for public office. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org

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