President Barack Obama’s new $3.83 trillion budget is a chickens-come-home-to-roost moment for Democrats who skipped past the deficit to tackle health care last year and now risk paying a heavy price in November.
The great White House political gamble was to act quickly — before the deficits hit home — and institute major changes which proponents say will serve the long-term fiscal health of the country. Instead, a year of wrangling and refusal to consider more incremental steps have brought Obama and Congress to this juncture, where waves of red ink threaten to swamp their boat and drown reform altogether.
“It’s very important to understand, we won’t be able to bring down this deficit overnight given that the recovery is still taking hold and families across the country still need help,” Obama told reporters Monday. But with $5.08 trillion in deficits over the next five years, his spending plan seems also a cry for help in the face of what he sees as intransigent Republican opposition.
Not until 2014 to 2015 — midway through what Obama hopes will be his second term — is there any chance of approaching a sustainable budget. Even then, the president admits he will need the help of a bipartisan fiscal commission willing to tackle long-range issues like Social Security reform.
New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, called Monday for a bolder “game-changing budget that will turn things around.”
“I’m available if they need me, but I don’t think they’re thinking big,” Gregg told POLITICO, checking off his list of ideas, including a freeze on spending — ramped up by taking out all money now earmarked for lawmakers’ home-state projects. - Politico Story
It is ironic how this President and his Democratic friends in the House and Senate can think big and go for broke on things like Health Care and Climate Change, but can't make the tough decisions to bring down the Federal Deficit.
It Obama's plans, the Deficit cutting doesn't even happen until he is out of office, or hopefully out of office.
No comments:
Post a Comment