President Obama today proposed $1 trillion (with a T) in spending cuts over 10 years.
Republicans, though they haven’t offered better, are dismissive.
U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, with an election drawing nearer, sides with the Republicans.
As a nation, we have many priorities but only limited resources. We have been binging and dieting to meet these needs, but neither plan works. Families in Arkansas know what works. We use restraint every day in spending decisions; the government must do the same. Ultimately, this will require shared sacrifice from every American, not just on the backs of rural America. Quite frankly, we have no choice if we are to remain a competitive nation.
The President’s budget signals some strong investments in infrastructure and 21st century education, but it must go further to reduce spending. I stand ready to make tough decisions to eliminate waste and cut spending. Everything must be on the table, and I’m working with a bipartisan group of senators to address this difficult task. I look forward to working with the President and my Senate colleagues to improve our economy, reduce spending and reform our tax code, which will put us on a more secure path for the future.
Wonder if his daddy will talk Sen. Pryor out of joining the Republicans on cutting money for public TV and radio.
U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin is approvingly quoting former Clinton adviser Erskine Bowles, a spending hawk, that cuts should go deeper.
U.S. Rep. Mike Ross echoes the Republican chorus (as usual) that the president hasn’t cut spending enough to prevent additional deficits. He offers no cuts in the big drags on the budget — Medicare, Medicaid, defense — that would have to suffer to achieve Ross’ ends, nor does he back a takeback of the unprecedented low tax rates for billionaires that have contributed to the deficits.
Again: We wouldn’t have deficit problems if George W. Bush hadn’t slashed taxes. And we know for a dead-certain fact that the orgy of tax-cutting produced no economic boom, unless a 10 percent unemployment rate and greater concentration of wealth in fewer hands are your idea of a boom.
UPDATE: Credit Griffin for announcing his endorsement of President Obama’s idea to cut spending for the F-35 alternative engine program, a make-work program that benefits several Republican congressional districts.