Obama's Fiscal Record - The actual record.

A Brief History of President Obama’s Fiscal Record
Setting the Record Straight
July 15, 2011


Despite newfound concern with the debt overhang stifling economic growth, President Obama’s record falls far short of his rhetoric. Let’s review the decisions made by President Obama and Congressional Democrats over the past couple of years, and the disappointing results of their policy choices:

January 20, 2009
President Obama sworn into office

•President tells the American people in his Inaugural Address: “Those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.”

•Debt Held By Public = $6.31 trillion

February 17, 2009
President Signs into Law the Spending Stimulus

•The stimulus adds $821 billion in new spending according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

•The White House promises this infusion of spending and borrowing would keep unemployment rate below 8%. As millions of Americans are painfully aware, that promise was broken.

•Debt Held by Public = $6.48 trillion


February 26, 2009
President Issues FY2010 Budget

•The President’s budget adds $2.7 trillion in new debt in FY2010 and imposes $1.4 trillion in new taxes.

•Debt Held by Public = $6.58 trillion


March 11, 2009
President Signs FY2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act

•The massive spending bill includes 8,696 earmarks at a cost of $11 billion.

•The spending bill adds $19 billion in new spending above the baseline – an 8.6% spending increase.

•Debt Held by Public = $6.66 trillion



April 29, 2009
Congressional Democrats Pass FY2010 Budget

•The Congressional Democrats’ budget calls for a $2 trillion debt increase in 2010, and another 8.9% increase in non-defense discretionary spending.
•The reconciliation process is abused to later pave the way for health care overhaul to be jammed into law.
•Of note: this is the last time Congressional Democrats will bother budgeting.

•Debt Held by Public = $6.85 trillion



February 2, 2010
President Issues FY2011 Budget

•The President’s budget more than doubles the debt; pushes the FY2011 deficit to a new record of $1.6 trillion; drives spending to a new record of $3.8 trillion in fiscal year 2011; and raises taxes by more than $2 trillion through 2020, under the administration’s own estimates.
•Debt Held by Public = $7.85 trillion



March 23, 2010
President Signs Health-Care Overhaul Into Law

•The massive new law adds $1.4 trillion in new spending over the next decade, and over $2.5 trillion once the law is fully implemented.
•Despite sluggish economic growth and high unemployment, the law imposes over $500 billion in new tax hikes. CBO Director Elmendorf would later testify that the law would reduce employment by roughly half a percent – a reduction of approximately 800,000 jobs.
•Debt Held by Public = $8.18 trillion



April 15, 2010
Congressional Democrats Decide Not to Do a Budget for FY2011

•The 1974 Budget Act requires Congress to pass a budget each year by April 15.
•In an unprecedented budget failure, House Democrats not only failed to pass a budget – they opted to not even propose a budget.
•Debt Held by Public = $8.39 trillion


July 21, 2010
President Signs Financial Regulatory Overhaul Into Law

•In addition to heightened regulatory uncertainty, the massive new law adds $10.2 billion in new spending.
•Debt Held by Public = $8.69 trillion



February 14, 2011
President Issues FY2012 Budget

•The President’s budget yet again calls for the doubling of the debt in five years, and tripling the debt in ten years.
•The President’s budget spends $47 trillion over the next decade, imposes over $1 trillion in new tax hikes, and fails to address the drivers of the debt.
•Debt Held by Public = $9.45 trillion


April 13, 2011
President Delivers Speech on Deficit Reduction

•The President appears to abandon his own budget by offering a ‘framework’ that calls for additional tax increases, defense spending cuts, and Medicare price controls – yet lacks sufficient detail to back-up claims of deficit reduction.
•Debt Held by Public = $9.65 trillion


April 15, 2011
House Passes FY2012 Budget Resolution

•The House-passed budget cuts $6.2 trillion in government spending over the next decade, saves Medicare, strengthens the social safety net, lifts the crushing burden of debt, and spurs economic growth and job creation.
•Senate Democrats fail to meet their legal requirement to pass a budget by April 15.
•Debt Held by Public = $9.68 trillion


April 18, 2011
S&P Issues Credit Warning on U.S. Debt

•The rating agency sets off the latest alarm bells, warning of lawmakers of unsustainable fiscal course.

•President Obama has still not proposed a credible budget; Senate Democrats have still not proposed any budget.

•Debt Held by Public = $9.68 trillion



May 13, 2011
Medicare and Social Security Trustees Issue Warning of Looming Insolvency

•According to the programs’ own trustees, the unsustainable future of Medicare and Social Security threatens the health and retirement security of America’s seniors.

•President Obama and Congressional Democrats continue to engage in a partisan campaign to attack efforts to save and strengthen these critical programs – while offering no serious solutions of their own.

•Debt Held by Public = $9.67 trillion



May 25, 2011
Senate Unanimously Rejects President’s FY2012 Budget; Vote is 97-0

•While the President’s plan to accelerate our nation toward bankruptcy is unanimously rejected, the stunt on the Senate floor reveals the bankruptcy of Senate Democrats’ ideas.

•Senate Democrats have still not proposed any budget.

•Debt Held by Public = $9.72 trillion


June 23, 2011
CBO Director Further Discredits President’s Fiscal Record

•In testimony before the House Budget Committee, CBO Director Doug Elmendorf responds to questions on the President’s ‘Framework’: “We don’t estimate speeches. We need much more specificity than was provided in that speech for us to do our analysis.”

•Debt Held by Public = $9.74 trillion


July 8, 2011
Unemployment Hits 9.2%; Day 800 Since Senate Democrats Last Passed A Budget

•A devastating jobs report that shows the unemployment rate at 9.2% coincides with the 800th day since Senate Democrats last thought the federal government needed a budget.

•Debt Held by Public = $9.75 trillion


July 11, 2011
Senator Conrad Gives Budget Speech on Senate Floor

•On Day 803 since the Senate last passed a budget, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad takes to the Senate floor to deliver a speech about the Senate Democrats’ non-existent budget resolution.
•Senator Conrad makes the case for imposing over $2 trillion in new taxes, but provides no actual budget resolution and no credible details.
•Debt held by Public = $9.75 trillion


July 15, 2011
President Holds Press Conference: “We’re Running Out of Time” to Deal with Debt

•President Obama tells reporters: “I've got reams of paper and printouts and spreadsheets on my desk, and so we know how we can create a package that solves the deficits and debt for a significant period of time. But in order to do that, we got to get started now.”

•The American people have still not seen any “paper” or “printouts” of what specific spending cuts the President supports. The American people have still not seen any “spreadsheets” from the White House to corroborate their claims of having offered a deficit reduction plan.

•While it’s long past time for Washington “to get started now” on tackling our debt problems, President Obama has still not proposed a credible budget, and Senate Democrats have still not proposed any budget.

•Debt Held by Public = $9.75 trillion

source - Rep. Paul Ryan, Chairman
Committee on the Budget: U.S. House of Representatives 207 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515

2011 Federal Budget, In Easy To Understand Numbers

2011 Federal BudgetFederal Budget: $3,820,000,000,000.Income: $2,170,000,000,000.New Debt: $1,650,000,000,000. Amount Cut: $ 38,500,000,000 – about 1% of the total budget. Harry Reid is calling this a “historic amount“. The President said it is a “historic deal”. John Boehner simply said, “we’ve come to an agreement”. Let’s Put This In Perspective: It helps me to think about these numbers in terms that I can relate to. Let’s remove nine zeroes from those numbers and pretend this is a monthly household budget for the fictitious Jones family. Amount of money the Jones family spent this month: $3,820 Total income for the Jones family this month: $2,170 Amount of new debt added to the credit card this month: $1,650 Outstanding balance on the credit card: $14,271 (This represents our national debt). So last night, the Jones’ sat down at the kitchen table and agreed to cut $38 from their monthly budget. A historic amount! At my house, we don’t spend 43% more than we make. I’m willing to bet you don’t either. Why do we let them do it in Washington D.C.?"

Obama Lecturing the Chamber Of Commerce, Laughable if it weren't true.

In an effort to counter the notion that the White House is anti-business, Barack Obama assured the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Monday that they could all be friends. "I'm here in the interest of being more neighborly," Obama said. "Maybe if we'd brought over a fruitcake when I first moved in we would have gotten off to a better start. But I'm going to make up for it." The problem is, Obama's the kind of neighbor that talks friendly enough, but then turns you in to the homeowner's association for having a garden gnome he doesn't like in your front yard.
After Obama discussed fruitcakes and a better start, his speech quickly turned into a lecture telling businesses how to do business. "American companies have nearly $2 trillion sitting on their balance sheets," he said. "I know that many of you have told me that you're waiting for demand to rise before you get off the sidelines and expand, and that with millions of Americans out of work, demand has risen more slowly than any of us would like." He continued his challenge, saying, "[M]any of your own economists and salespeople are now forecasting a healthy increase in demand. So I want to encourage you to get in the game."
Such posturing is laughable coming from a man so completely lacking in private-sector experience. Furthermore, as has been well documented in this space, Obama's Keynesian stimulus failed to keep unemployment down or to stop the feeling of economic malaise. Worse yet, his regulatory frenzy and his promises to raise taxes on small business owners have created great uncertainty.
In January, the president appeared ready to deregulate, but as we noted then, that was a farce. The pace of new regulations under Obama is historic. Monday, he talked about eliminating "burdensome regulations," while insisting that "not every regulation is bad" or "burdensome on business." In other words, businesses will take the regulations he gives them and like it.
Obama did offer what appeared to be an olive branch, saying, "[I]f there's a reason you don't share my confidence, if there's a reason you don't believe that this is the time to get off the sidelines -- to hire and to invest -- I want to know about it. I want to fix it." Of course, if we thought the problem was bad, his solutions have been worse.
Businesses didn't even wait for the speech to provide feedback. Earlier Monday, Republicans released 2,000 pages of letters from businesses detailing the negative effects of the administration's regulatory policies. Obama's message may have been that "we can and we must work together," but he needs to stop treating the Chamber of Commerce like a prison chamber for commerce. It's called the free market for a reason.
(From The Patriot Post)

Federal Govt Fail

Despite the emergency action plan, in place since 1994, the Federal Govt failed to stock the "fire booms" required to contain the oil spill.

Great, More Punitive Taxation

While it's true that the federal Oil Pollution Act, enacted in 1990 in response to the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, makes BP responsible for cleanup costs, the law caps the company's liability for economic damages — such as lost wages, shortened fishing seasons or lagging tourism — at $75 million, a pittance compared to potential losses.
Administration officials insist BP will be held responsible anyway, noting that if the company is found negligent or criminally liable, the cap disappears. Claims also can potentially be made under other state or federal laws, officials said.
Yet the liability cap is problematic enough that a trio of Democratic senators introduced legislation Monday raising it to $10 billion, and the administration quickly announced its support. Sens. Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey and Bill Nelson of Florida voiced concerns that unless the cap is raised, BP would avoid paying for the mess and leave small businesses, local government and fishermen with the bill.
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