[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 23 (Monday, February 14, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S651-S652]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE PRESIDENT'S BUDGET
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, earlier today, President Obama showed
the American people just how he intends to spend their tax dollars, and
how much more intends to borrow, to fund his vision of the future. And
it is a huge disappointment to those in both parties who were hoping
the President would take this opportunity to address the grave and
imminent fiscal crises we face. The President's budget is the clearest
sign yet he simply does not take our fiscal problems seriously.
It is a patronizing plan that says to the American people that their
concerns are not his concerns.
It is a plan that says fulfilling the President's vision of a future
of trains and windmills is more important than a balanced checkbook.
It is a plan that asks our children to pay for an imaginary vision of
the future that may or may not come about by adding trillions to a debt
that will be very real to them indeed.
The President's budget comes in at close to a thousand pages. The
people who voted for a new direction in November have a five-word
response: We don't have the money.
We don't have the money.
Americans have been asking a crucial question as we approached this
debate: how do we get back to balance, how do we get to a place where
Washington spends less than it takes in. And the simple fact about this
budget is that the President and all his advisers couldn't come up with
a single year in the next 10 where we do that.
That is the key question in this debate, but it is the one question
that the President and all of his advisers don't seem to have been the
least bit interested in.
The White House wants us to engage in a debate this week about
percentage cuts at this or that agency, about milti-year projections
and CBO scores. It all misses the point. The real point is this: We are
broke. We don't have the money.
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Look: there is a time to experiment with high-flown plans and to test
theories. But we have to balance the checkbook first. We have to be
able to afford it. The American people get that. This administration
doesn't seem to.
After 2 years of failed stimulus programs and Democrats in Washington
competing to outspend each other, we just can't afford to do all the
things the administration wants.
The President has said he wants us to win the future. But this budget
abdicates the future. It spends too much, taxes too much, and borrows
too much. It says that the President does not have the will or the
ability to do what we need to do with the money that we have. But that
is precisely what the Americans are demanding that we do.
Americans reject the idea that they have to live with another $13
trillion in debt to fund the President's or anyone else's vision of the
future.
This budget was an opportunity for the President to lead. He punted.
It only pretends to do the things people want. And the reaction we have
seen from across the political spectrum so far today suggests that
nobody is buying it.
The President may be determined to keep spending levels at the
current high levels--high levels he put in place--in the hope that
people will get used to them. But he has clearly misread a public that
has had enough.
We must live within our means. We must begin to do the difficult but
necessary work of reining in a government that has grown beyond our
ability to pay for it. We must acknowledge the mistakes of the past 2
years and work to correct them.
The stimulus failed. This budget says ``Do it again.''
The President has already added more than $3 trillion to the debt as
we lost another 3 million jobs. This budget says let's add more debt
and see if we get a different result.
The President had an opportunity to cut domestic spending from the 25
percent he has increased it since he came into office. Instead, he
locked it in place.
He had an opportunity to start to pay down the tremendous burden of
debt that he has added over the past 2 years. He wants to increase it
instead.
He had an opportunity to work with Republicans on reforming long-term
entitlements such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. He took a
pass.
This is a status quo budget at a time when serious action is needed.
This is business as usual at a time when bold, creative solutions are
needed.
This is not an I-got-the-message budget. It is unserious, and it is
irresponsible.
We need to look for ways to preserve what is good that does not put
us on path to bankruptcy. That was the challenge of this budget. The
administration failed the test.
After years of overspending by both parties, it is time to make tough
choices, just as any family does when times are tough, even among very
good things. We have to cut even from programs that are good, as
difficult as it is, recognizing that the values we are fighting for in
this debate are more fundamental than the survival of any one program.
We need to face that fact that we do not have the money. It is not an
American value to borrow from others to pay for programs we do not need
and cannot afford. And it is not an American value to put off tough
decisions because we refuse to say no to things we want.
If there is any good news in this debate, it is that we are finally
beginning to talk about how much to cut in this town instead of how
much to spend. But we are going to need more people to join the fight.
We will need Democrats to join us. Above all, we need a President who
gets it. And this President clearly does not get it yet.
I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection it is so ordered.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in
morning business.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
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