by Mark Silva
Sen. Judd Gregg, the New Hampshire Republican who was ready to serve as President Barack Obama's Commerce Secretary until realizing that he had irreconcilable political differences with the new Democratic president, cites the biggest of those differences today in the Republican Party's weekly address.
The budget.
"What concerns many of us are his proposals in the budget he recently sent to the Congress that dramatically grow the size and cost of government and move it to the left,'' Gregg said of Obama's $3.55-trillion budget for 2010. ""It is our opinion that this plan spends too much, taxes too much and borrows too much.''
Add all the national debt accrued from the time of George Washington through George W. Bush, Gregg notes, and Obama plans to double it during five years. (Bush also doubled it on his watch, the Republican omits in this comparison.)
"In the next five years, President Obama's budget will double the national debt; in the next ten years it will triple the national debt,'' Gregg says. "The presidentt, to his credit, is not trying to hide this; in fact he is very forthright in stating that he believes that by greatly expanding the spending, the taxing and the borrowing of our government, this will lead us to prosperity.
"Here of course is where we differ,'' Gregg says. "We believe you create prosperity by having an affordable government that pursues its responsibilities without excessive costs, taxes or debt. That it is the individual American who creates prosperity and good jobs, not the government.''
There is no alternative offered here today, playing to the White House budget director's complaint that the Republican Party is movin from "the party of no detail, as OMB's Peter Orszag told Bloomberg News. But there is a principled argument for why the nation cannot afford what the president is proposing, from a senator who at first thought he could, but later concluded that he could not, serve the president.
See the video above and the text below:
"Hello, I'm Judd Gregg, senator from New Hampshire. We all know these are difficult times. People are worried about keeping their jobs, paying their bills, the value of their homes and the cost of sending their kids to college. It's hard.
"Thus I appreciate, as do all Americans, the efforts being made by our president and his seriousness about addressing these issues.
"But what concerns many of us are his proposals in the budget he recently sent to the Congress that dramatically grow the size and cost of government and move it to the left.
"It is our opinion that this plan spends too much, taxes too much and borrows too much.
"You may have heard this before that the budget of the president spends too much, taxes too much and borrows too much.
"What do we mean? Well, let me give you a few examples.
"In the next five years, President Obama's budget will double the national debt; in the next ten years it will triple the national debt.
"To say this another way, if you take all the debt of our country run up by all of our presidents from George Washington through George W. Bush, the total debt over all those 200-plus years since we started as a nation, it is President Obama's plan to double that debt in just the first five years that he is in office.
"He is also planning to spend more on the government as a percentage of our economy than at any time since World War II.
"His budget assumes the deficit will average $1 trillion dollars every year for the next 10 years and will add well over $9 trillion dollars in new debts to our children's backs.
"He also is proposing the largest tax increase in history, much of it aimed at taxing small business people who have been, over the years, the best job creators in our economy. And further, he is proposing a massive new national sales tax on your electric bill. So that every time you turn on a light switch, in your house, you will be hit with a new tax -- and it averages over $3,000 per household.
"These are staggering numbers and represent an extraordinary move of our government to the left.
"The president to his credit is not trying to hide this; in fact he is very forthright in stating that he believes that by greatly expanding the spending, the taxing and the borrowing of our government, this will lead us to prosperity.
"Here of course is where we differ. We believe you create prosperity by having an affordable government that pursues its responsibilities without excessive costs, taxes or debt. That it is the individual American who creates prosperity and good jobs, not the government.
"We believe that you create energy independence not by sticking Americans with a brand new national sales tax on everyone's electric bill, but by expanding the production of American energy, such as environmentally sound off-shore drilling, nuclear power, wind, solar while also conserving more.
"We also believe you improve everyone's health care not by nationalizing the health care system and putting the government between you and your doctor, but by assuring that every American has access to quality health insurance and choices in health care.
"We believe that you run a sound and affordable government not by running up the national debt to historic levels and unsustainable levels while over-taxing working Americans and spending as if there is no tomorrow, but rather by working on limiting the growth of government in a manner that is affordable not only today but for the next generation through limiting spending and addressing core issues like the cost of entitlements.
"Our nation has an exceptional history of one generation passing on to the next generation a more prosperous and stronger country, but that tradition is being put at risk. The dramatic move to the left and the massive increase in the size and cost of the government, proposed by the budget of President Obama, will lead to an immense national debt that not only threatens the value of the dollar and puts at risk our ability to borrow money to run the government. But it will also place our children at a huge disadvantage as they inherit this debt which will make their chances of success less than those given to us by our parents. It is not right for one generation to do that to another generation.
"Rather, we believe that if you properly steward the responsibilities of the government, if you do not spend too much, if you do not tax too much, if you do not borrow too much, we can leave our children a better nation where they will have even greater opportunity for prosperity, peace and freedom.
"Thank you for taking the time to listen, and have a great weekend."
Comments
That's funny.
I don't recall Judd Gregg saying anything for 8 years while Bush was bankrupting the USA.
Posted by: ornery | March 28, 2009 10:02 AM
Senator Judd, Where were you during 8 years of deficits under Bush? Where were you when Congress passed huge tax cuts while waging 2 wars? Where were you when your party was in power and could make a difference?
So now you all at once you get "fiscal religion". Sorry, but it sounds like the drunk who on Sunday morning all at once finds Jesus!
Posted by: Michael Tracy | March 28, 2009 10:27 AM
Where was the moronic Right when their fearless leaders, ex-President Bush/Cheney, were doubling the debt ? We sure didn't hear much from them, at that time !! Where were they when Wall Street was plundering our nation !!? Calling us a nation of whiners !! That is all you can expect from the moronic Right, more lunacy !! Keep sounding off, all of you wannabes Republicans, it just strengthens our hand !! President Obama is doing just fine, without your help and in spite of your desire to see " his policies " fail !! At the moment, America doesn't need, nor want, your extreme ideology !! Go home home and rewrite it and this time, think of the people first and your ideology, second !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, America | March 28, 2009 10:28 AM
Judd Gregg misses the whole point. To memory-challenged Obama supporters, Bush deficits were bad, but Obama deficits (twice as large) are good. Because, you know, uh, it's Obama....
To put things simpler: Bush deficit--bad. Obama deficit twice as large--good.
Posted by: Hope N. Change | March 28, 2009 10:43 AM
We are not bankrupting our children's future, we are making the necessary investments for improving their inheritance. If we refuse to fix our infrastructure now, what are we giving them? We are in a period of much needed reformation and all is for the better. The wealthy need to be patient, contribute more of their unused cash and they will reap big profits in the future. How many millions does one person need?
Posted by: gordon rigsby | March 28, 2009 11:03 AM
Also funny - Judd Gregg was going to be commerce secretary until "realizing" he had irreconcilable differences with the new Democratic administration. Judd Gregg, like George Bush, realized that the only way to get out from under his daddies coat tails was to go fer it on his own and try to make a name for himself as a fiscal conservative. He's about as good at it as dubbya was.
Posted by: Bob | March 28, 2009 11:07 AM
The debt was doubled by the Republicans!!! We're just now dealing with their treacherous selfishness! Yeah, sure would be nice if the Republicans would actually own up to the fact that they were largely at cause for this mess - do they EVER apologize, do they EVER get honest, do they EVER work for the greater Good? Do they ever listen to or work for the much wiser youth of this country? (I'm 57) It's called wisdom, generosity, and honesty -- sure would be nice to see from them -- it's why I'm no longer a Republican.
Posted by: rmaz | March 28, 2009 11:12 AM
""It is our opinion that this plan spends too much, taxes too much and borrows too much.''
The GOP talking points. How many more of the congress will I here this same phrase from? When will they get it? No one I know thinks they are in touch with reality be they Republican, Democrat or Independent. They keep thinking if they say their talking points enough times, people will believe them. Well George Bush is no longer in office. They need to find a new mode of thinking and working.
Posted by: lochnessmonster | March 28, 2009 11:30 AM
Ornery, you are really just another lemming leftie. Yes, George Bush ran up a deficit, but that doesn't mean it's right the Obama plans on tripling the deficit spending of the previous administration. His first year's budget deficit alone will cost more than the 7 years of the Iraq war! When will your retarded socialist BS arguments end?
Posted by: YRUsuchANidjit | March 28, 2009 11:36 AM
It is not their money, it is Tax Payer's money, what are they cribbing about, loosing money to loot?. They enjoyed that last 8 years.
Posted by: srinu | March 28, 2009 11:48 AM
Does that make what he's saying wrong? These ad hominems are inane and tiring and don't contribute to critical thinking.
Posted by: ctn | March 28, 2009 12:06 PM
With or without the facts below, let's focus on the decisions at hand.
---
[Source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,235408,00.html]
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg, R-N.H., gave extraordinary floor speeches lambasting his party for losing its way on fiscal discipline and its leadership for jamming the bill past rank-and-file Republicans opposing the massive measure.
Posted by: ctn | March 28, 2009 12:15 PM
War unpaid for.
Tax breaks to corporations and the wealthy that cause on going fiscal debt.
Oversight over the FDA,SEC,CDC,
imported goods,all purposely undermined.
Abramoff selling contacts from business to congress and back with the willing help of Tom Delay
lies after lies after lies
We do not torture
we had nothing to do with outing Valerie Plum
Al queda was responsible for 9/11
Oh Sen.Gregg
You might not remember but we out here ,we remember. And to you I just have to say what is the republican montra of no, no ,no.
No to an economy built on exploitation of the poorest .
No on unending wars to fuel your private industries that feed money back to your campaigns.
No to excess and greed while you hold up and trow religion in our faces.
No to the rhetoric of soialism ,communism.
No to a prison system that jails the poor and reward the white collar criminal.And makes a profit for your campain.
No to people like you who took $122111 from AIG and Bank of America and now clam virtue.
NO NO NO
Posted by: Greg | March 28, 2009 12:16 PM
How long will it be until reflexive Obamamaniacs answer ANY criticism of Obama with the equivalent of, "well, so? Bush was worse!"
Just because Bush (and Congress -- and let us NOT forget that the Dems were in power in congress from '06 on) made a hash of things does not mean we now make it worse! For heaven's sake, I feel compelled to ask that age-old mom question -- well, if Jason jumped off the bridge would you do it too?
Time to grow up. Obama's projected deficits are unsustainable. We are headed into bankruptcy. That's not exactly what I want to leave MY children.
Posted by: Beth | March 28, 2009 12:44 PM
URA blank,
you didn't answer the question.
Anyway, you must have missed the past year.
Everything crashed because of Bush and Replican Congress.
So the spending is being done to try to avert another Depression.
You remember? Bread lines.
Former stockbrokers selling apples and pencils on streetcorners?
Folks living on peanut butter sandwiches?
Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Republican party of the 1920's type stuff?
Yeah.
Posted by: ornery | March 28, 2009 1:31 PM
Onery and the other Flatliners,
.
When it comes to gov't spending, running up deficits and debt, President Bush was a minor leaguer compared to BO.
.
With the exception of the past year, Bush's deficits were not over 4% of the GDP. BO's projected deficits would never get below 4% of GDP.
.
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0309/032009cdpm1.htm
.
I love how you loons bemoaned the fact that when President Bush was spending it was bad to have deficits, but now that BO, Nancy,a nd Harry are leading the charge, it is OK? I guess you parents never taught you, two wrongs, don't make a right.
Posted by: Terry | March 28, 2009 2:38 PM
Calling Gregg a hypocrite for not speaking up when Bush ran large deficits is not the same as saying he is wrong in this instance. And pointing out that the public debt doubled under Bush's nose does not excuse, justify or explain Obama doing it again.
Obama is using the credit crisis as a smoke screen to pass a larger agenda. That is plain as day. All of his economic advisers agree that the credit crunch is at heart of this recession. But Obama's agenda is reshaping health care, education and energy.
Posted by: Herbie H. | March 28, 2009 3:15 PM
Judd Gregg? I'm supposed to care what Judd Gregg thinks about anything?!?!
Gregg is the Wingnut who begged for a job in the Obama administration and then backed out after Republican leader Boss Limbaugh turned on him.
The Bush administration already mortgaged our children's future with the trillion they spent on a phony war in Iraq (Not to mention the "human" cost) and the massive tax cuts for the richest 1-2%, big corporations and big oil that they handed out.
I'm reminded of the old business saying, "you have to spend money to make money". That is what Obama's budget proposes to do. Doing nothing is not an option unless you're a fan of Herbert Hoover whom I might add, WAS A REPUBLICAN!
Try again, Wingnuts...
Posted by: Rex Riffraff | March 28, 2009 3:51 PM
I am not going to be a Rush and hope for the President's failure. My hope is that he has assembled a qualified staff to remedy the problem. In the mean time, I think now is the time for entrepreneurship. So, I started http://www.freegovtjobscom as a means of creating wealth.
Posted by: Mike | March 28, 2009 3:54 PM
You know what Judd? You know what the explosion of debt under your heroes Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush got us? NOTHING. Not a damned thing we can hold on to. You got us wars we can't win or get out of, a bankrupted country, a ravaged environment, an energy policy that will continue to ravage our economy and environment, and an extremely inefficient health care system that destroys families left and right.
And now we're going to do something about it. We're going to spend money on the right things, not just on tax cuts for the rich or wars to help looting companies like Halliburton. We're going to try and actually do what you claim to want to do, and which you had eight long years to do if you damn well wanted - provide a better country for those generations who have still to come into it.
But you're right about one thing, Judd. It's going to be costly. It's often very costly to fix gigantic mistakes like the ones you have voted for as a sixteen-year Republican member of the Senate. We can't just decide that we want to clean up this huge f-ing mess, snap our fingers, spend five or ten bucks, and call it a day. Unfortunately it's going to take a lot of money, or things will get even worse because of the course your (Republican) party put this country on.
.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/72321374@N00/3343773255/
.
Posted by: Trent D | March 28, 2009 4:09 PM
Hey Judd!
Exactly how is this the largest tax increase in history? You moronic Republicans trot out that line every single time We The People decide that the highest marginal tax rate in this country is too low. And you know how I know its' too low? Because it encourages the kinds of salaries and bonuses that we see out there at banks and insurance companies. The kinds of salaries and bonuses that encourage people to do ANYTHING to bump up short-term profits - even if it means wrecking the economy.
If George W. Bush and the rest of y'all Republicans wanted tax cuts on the rich to be cut so badly, why didn't you try and make the cuts permanent? Why'd you make them temporary, with an assured expiration date? The answer is obvious - because you wanted a political issue down the road. You wanted to be able to play politics, like you're doing now, at a time when the country can't afford your stupidity, nonsense and greed. You set yourself up for this, and now you're following through with empty rhetoric.
By the by, if the Republicans really wanted to cut the deficit, why on Earth are they so against raising the highest marginal tax rate back up to where it was under their hero Ronald Reagan? If we're going to give my generation, and future generations, some real prosperity, how about asking people of tremendous means, who have made a killing off of this whole economic fiasco, to make a sacrifice and pitch in?
As for small businesses, since when has the Republican Party given a damn about them? Republican policies are entirely geared toward helping big businesses like Wal-Mart as they steamroll over every small business in their path.
F YOU REPUBLICANS - Seriously, F YOU! You've ruined this country as best you know how, and now you're harping from the peanut gallery about grown-ups telling you to go sit at the kiddie table and keep your hands to yourself until you want to engage in an adult discussion. WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO SPEND MONEY TO FIX YOUR GIGANTIC, EPIC-PROPORTIONS MISTAKES (purposeful "mistakes"?).
There are going to be dramatic, suspenseful, award-winning movies that people of my generation will watch when we are older detailing just how atrocious you Republican a-holes were at governing. EPIC FAIL.
Posted by: Dissent is Patriotic = RNC Bruce | March 28, 2009 6:20 PM
Posted by: Dissent is Patriotic = RNC Bruce | March 28, 2009 6:20 PM
Nurse Ratched, come here. We need you.
Posted by: DaveB | March 28, 2009 9:36 PM
It wasn't Bush who advocated giving loans to those who couldn't afford them. He, McCain, & Greenspan warned of a future problem and were rebuffed by Dodd, Frank, Waxman and Waters. Watch the video.
The Omnibus Bill contains pork - added by Dems and Reps. - but could have been stopped by Obama keeping his word that he would abolish pork. There are many projects in there which will not help my grandbabies. They will have to pay for the stupidity of today's Congress and President. It is the Congress which spends the money. Congress which makes the Bills that the President enacts by signing them.
If you read the Stimulus Bill and the Omnibus bill, you cannot say there were millions of dollars that will be wasted. Would you take out a loan today for a project you will begin in 3 years? If so, you know nothing about economics and budgeting.
The first Stimulus Bill belonged to Pelosi and Reid - had to be signed immediately - so Nancy could jet to Italy to see the Pope.
Will Obama and Geitner agree with China and Russia to scrap the dollar and allow IMF to develop a new One World Order currency?
Will Obama agree to join the UN's plan to create a New World Order where everyone can live in peace?
This is much more than arguing about who did what, when, and why. The posts above sound like my 8th graders whining. "Bush did it!" It's over and he's gone. Obama signed the first Stimulus Bill - could have fought against it. He has been responsible for the others - he could have stopped them. He's the one pushing for more mega spending - he could stop it. It is clear that he's never run a business or even a home. I bet Michelle did the house budget and paid the bills. He's clueless. Let's all worry. We are the frogs in the pot and the stove is on high.
Posted by: Linda Mae | March 29, 2009 3:31 AM
Linda, you made it to the very end without once using the word 'ACORN'. Congrats.
You're wrong, of course, re Bush:
He touted his "ownership society" which of course included getting a mortgage from his buddies.
It was a con, a lead up to trying to "privatize" social security.
Fortunately he failed in that ploy.
Posted by: ornery | March 30, 2009 1:38 AM