Gregg Harper: Mid-Session Review

HARPER: MID-SESSION REVIEW PROVIDES HARSH EVIDENCE OF DEMOCRATS’ SPENDING BINGE

“Americans expect better than more taxes for more government spending and less jobs – and they deserve it.”

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representative Gregg Harper (R–Miss.), freshman Member of the House Committee on the Budget, has called for order to the chaotic deficit spending after the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released updated economic and budgetary projections.

“When the 111th Congress convened, President Obama and Congressional Democrats promised fiscal responsibility,” said Congressman Gregg Harper. “Now, after eight misleading months, America is learning directly from the White House that the federal deficit will soar to nearly $1.6 trillion this year alone.”
Harper’s comments came after the August 25, 2009 release of the Mid-Session Review, which is an annual economic and budget forecast provided by the President. This year’s numbers reveal disturbing figures with the OMB estimating that the ten-year deficit will reach $9.05 trillion or a 27 percent increase over the White House’s original estimate of $7.1 trillion. The 2009 deficit is projected to reach $1.58 trillion alone, more than tripling last year’s deficit of $459 billion. According to The Heritage Foundation, more than 43 cents of every dollar Washington spends in 2009 will have been borrowed.

These deficits are driven by an increase in government spending. The OMB and CBO forecast that the increase in federal spending over the next ten years could range from 2.7 percent – 6 percent even without the President’s proposed $1 trillion government health care reform. This year alone, the President and the Pelosi-led Democratic controlled Congress have passed a $408 billion fiscal year 2009 omnibus appropriations bill and a $787 billion so-called “stimulus” package. This has resulted in a 22 percent spending increase for 2009 which represents the largest government expansion since the 1952 height of the Korean War.
Also, jobless figures are significantly higher than the President’s analysis earlier this year. The OMB predicts that unemployment will average 9.3 percent in 2009 and peak at 9.8 percent in 2010. However, the nonpartisan CBO expects this figure to reach an average of 10.2 percent for 2010, a number that far exceeds the President’s expectations of 5.2 percent – 8.1 percent as a result of the so-called “stimulus” package.

“Americans expect better than more taxes for more government spending and less jobs – and they deserve it,” added Congressman Harper. “The majority of jobs in Mississippi and our country are created by small businesses. This is why Congress must begin to allow families and small businesses to keep more of what they earn instead of continuing with this trend of explosive government spending.”

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