Guest post by Rep. Bob Goodlatte
This past week House Democrats presented their $3.6 trillion budget resolution – a budget which spends too much, taxes too much and borrows too much. The Democrat budget proposes a deficit of $1.2 trillion for 2010, with the national debt climbing to $17.1 trillion. It also includes one of the largest tax increases in history. The spending in this budget is so massive that independent estimates suggest roughly 250,000 new federal bureaucrats may be needed to spend it all.
Many in Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, are concerned and are looking for a better way forward. Congress must go back to the basic principles of limited government and personal responsibility that made our nation great. Instead of raising taxes on all Americans in the midst of a recession, I believe we must hold down that burden for working families and small businesses, in order to create jobs and unlock private capital. We also need to reduce the federal deficit and debt ultimately balancing the budget. I have legislation that would require a balanced federal budget and I will work to have principles from this legislation incorporated into the final budget resolution for 2010.
House Republicans unveiled their alternative budget blueprint, entitled the “Road to Recovery”, which curbs spending, creates jobs, cuts taxes, and does more to control the debt. The plan will do a better job of strengthening the economy and restoring fiscal sanity by letting families and small businesses keep more of what they earn. The Republican alternative makes a commitment to entitlement reform while expanding Americans’ access to affordable health care. It ends the bailouts in order to protect taxpayers, fights inflation so prices of goods and services remain stable and reduces gas prices through an “all of the above” energy plan that includes green energy like wind, solar and biofuels while encouraging domestic production of more traditional sources of energy.
In these challenging economic times it is even more important for government to control spending. The federal government must work to both eliminate every cent of waste and squeeze every cent of value out of each dollar our citizens entrust to it. Families and small businesses all across our nation understand what it means to make tough decisions each day about what they can and cannot afford, and Congress should not be allowed to ignore these tough decisions when creating spending policies for the federal government.
I have consistently voted for the tightest budgets possible each year. While the Republican alternative budget is still a blueprint, it is my hope that the details will reveal that it will slash the deficit and pave the way for a balanced budget in the near future. In addition, I strongly urge the Democrat Leadership in Congress to work in good faith to incorporate all ideas, regardless of party affiliation, on how to pass a responsible budget that puts our nation’s families first.
