On Friday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a stunning new set of estimates on the national debt if President Obama’s budget is passed. According to CNN, “If President Obama’s 2011 budget were put into effect as proposed, the U.S. federal government would add an estimated $9.8 trillion to the country’s accrued debt over the next decade, according to a preliminary analysis from the Congressional Budget Office. Of that amount, an estimated $5.6 trillion will be in interest alone. By 2020, the agency estimates debt held by the public would reach $20.3 trillion, or 90% of GDP. That’s up from 53% of GDP in 2009.”
Obama claims his latest proposal to modify the already unaffordable Senate health care bill would save $1.1 trillion over the next 20 years. But the AP notes, “The nonpartisan [CBO] predicts that Obama’s budget plans would generate deficits over the upcoming decade that would total $9.8 trillion. That’s $1.2 trillion more than predicted by the administration.” So even if all the changes the president wants are made to the Senate health care bill and the $500 billion in tax hikes and $500 billion in Medicare cuts are implemented, it won’t make up for the $1.2 trillion more in red ink that the administration’s budget would bring.
But the news gets even grimmer. It seems unlikely that Obama’s projected savings from his health care proposal will materialize. Indeed, The Wall Street Journal reported two weeks ago, “Instead of paring his ambitions, as some in the White House had recommended, the president proposed a new plan based on what the Senate passed in December, adding more spending, more subsidies and a revised mix of taxes.” Further, CMS, the Obama administration’s own actuary for Medicare and Medicaid, found that the Senate bill would actually increase government health care expenditures over the next decade. And CBO similarly said the bill increases costs.
And yet, President Obama will travel around the country this week (at our expense) to advocate for HIS costly health care reform plan. Given our current fiscal situation, the United States simply cannot afford such massive levels of debt. Americans have rejected Obama’s health care plan on the policy, but they are also rightly concerned about our out-of-control debt. Do Democrats really think the American people will support burdening their children and grandchildren with the fantastic amounts of debt and spending that will be added to an already crushing burden by this health care bill?
Who are the zombies in Obama's prearranged audiences cheering on Obama? There once was a day in America, when the President would have listened to the American people as a whole and who would not have been constantly marketing and campaigning. There was a time when the people could rely on their Congressional delegation to listen to them and speak boldly in Congress without Chicago bully style politics being used to attack members of Congress for standing for their constituents. We understand the use of the bully pulpit but we reject Chicago bully style politics. And, we do not trust the "Bullies" who are using it.
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