[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 24 (Tuesday, February 14, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S586]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               THE BUDGET

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, we have had a little more time now to 
look at the President's budget, and I have to say the more one looks at 
it, the harder it is to believe this is the President's considered 
response to the crisis we face.
  President Obama knows better than anyone in this country that 
government spending and debt is completely out of control and that 
America is headed down the same road as Europe. This budget was his 
chance to show it. Instead, he decided to basically pretend these 
problems don't even exist, and to the extent he does acknowledge them, 
to propose solutions that are either gimmicks or that he knows will 
never come to pass.
  Just to take two examples, he says he will bank savings by not 
fighting a war he already declared we wouldn't be fighting. He will 
take credit for saving money on a war that he has already declared we 
are not going to be fighting--a gimmick--and he would raise money with 
tax hikes that have been rejected eight times by both parties. And, by 
the way, forget the fact that government spends $1 trillion a year more 
than it takes in. The President says government spending should be even 
higher. He significantly increases government spending at a time when 
we have a $15 trillion debt, a debt that is as big as our economy.
  This is what passes for leadership down at the White House. The 
President looks at our fiscal crisis, throws together a plan he knows 
is completely deceptive, and then goes on the road to sell it to 
captive audiences at high schools and colleges across the country. The 
failure of leadership is truly breathtaking. The President knows how 
grave our Nation's fiscal condition is. When he thinks it helps him, he 
admits it.
  A year ago tomorrow, when debt and spending were in the news, he used 
his budget announcement to reiterate a pledge to cut the deficit in 
half. Here is what he said just a year ago tomorrow:

       The only way we can make these investments in our future is 
     if our government starts living within its means, if we start 
     taking responsibility for our deficits. That's why, when I 
     was sworn in as President, I pledged to cut the deficit in 
     half by the end of my first term. The budget I'm proposing 
     today meets that pledge.

  That was the President 1 year ago tomorrow. Here we are 1 year later 
and he hasn't even come close--not even close.
  Last month, the President said he wanted an economy ``that is built 
to last.'' What he has given us instead is a blueprint for deficits 
that are built to last, and he hasn't done a thing to live up to his 
pledge to get our Nation's fiscal house in order. In fact, he has made 
it worse. Last year's budget wasn't worth the paper it was printed on 
and neither is this one. It is not worth the paper it was printed on.
  The President's job isn't to tell people what he thinks they want to 
hear. It is to explain the problems we have, unite people around a 
solution, and get the job done. This President is truly failing the 
American people. The only question is how long it will take for that 
failure to catch up with us.
  I yield the floor.

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