Federal Budget

Our future competitiveness as a nation is at risk—federal spending has spiked to record levels and our annual budget deficit has never been higher.  This is due to a mentality in Washington that gives people what they want without a way to pay for it.  

 

At the same time, those who claim that this deficit was created by current efforts to turn our economy around are attempting to distract us from the irresponsibility of the last decade. 

  • Cost in FY2009 of the Bush Tax Cuts: $231 billion
  • Cost in FY2009 of interest on debt added during the Bush Administration: $218 billion
  • Cost in FY2009 of decreased tax revenue from the recession: $426 billion

In 2001, just as President Bush was taking office, the Congressional Budget Office projected that in fiscal year 2009, the federal budget would enjoy a $710 billion surplus. Today the Congressional Budget Office projects that the FY2009 budget will have a $1.6 trillion deficit.

 

If the federal deficit isn’t reduced, interest payments on the debt will soon become one of the largest single government expenditures.  In 2008 alone, $250 billion was spent to pay for interest on the debt.  That’s $250 billion that didn’t go to schools, health care, college loans, bridge and road repairs – all it did was pay interest on the borrowed money back to countries like China and Japan.

 

As a fiscally responsible Member of Congress Jim will:

  • Support ‘Pay as you go’ or PAYGO which is the only honest and sensible budgeting approach in the current environment. If federal spending or tax cuts are a priority, Congress must be willing to figure out how to pay for it.
  • Allow the Bush tax cuts for the top 2% of earners to expire, returning tax rates for the wealthiest Americans to what they were in the 1990s.
  • Vote to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse within government spending.
  • Look closely at the Pentagon budget to make sure we’re spending our defense dollars wisely. That means no more pork in the Defense budget and no more endless funding for weapon systems that even our own generals don’t think we need.