Obama-Kaine Budget Promises More Of The Same Failed Economic Policies

Despite promising to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term in office, President Obama today submitted a budget to Congress which projects an even higher federal deficit than last year, while marking the fourth straight year of trillion-dollar-plus deficits.  In fact, in just three years, Democrats in Washington have added $4.7 trillion to the national debt — bringing total debt to over $15.3 trillion.

Yet, as President Obama stands before voters in Northern Virginia this morning, Virginians would do well to remember that just one year ago, liberal former DNC Chairman Tim Kaine actually called the President’s proposal “a blueprint for success,” and said that it “does not shy away from the reality of America’s difficult fiscal situation.”

Remarkably, the higher taxes, massive spending, and increased deficit spending in last year’s budget were too much for even Senate Democrats, including Virginia’s Mark Warner to stomach, and the entire Senate rejected the Obama-Kaine “blueprint for success” by a vote of 97 to 0.   Though Tim Kaine is no stranger to budgets going down in bi-partisan flames, this vote mirrored exactly the unanimous and bipartisan rejection in the Virginia House of Delegates of Kaine’s own budget in 2010 when he sought to increase taxes on Virginians by a record $2 billion.

“If Virginians want to know how Tim Kaine will govern in Washington, they don’t need to look any further than to witness the reckless spending and record deficits of the last three years,” National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesman Brian Walsh said today.  “The President’s budget is yet another defining difference in this year’s election – Tim Kaine believes that job-killing taxes, more Washington spending, and a skyrocketing debt that threatens our children’s future are a ‘blueprint for success.’ Republicans expect that most Virginians would disagree, and particularly those who have lived under the Obama-Kaine economy of the last three years.”

BACKGROUND….. 

• Kaine Said Obama’s 2012 Budget Was A “Blueprint For Success” In Cutting The Budget To Reduce American’s Deficit And In Making “Bold Investments” In Education, Infrastructure And Other Areas “Critical To Economic Growth.” “In his State of the Union address, President Obama called on Congress to join him in two major efforts designed to help America win the future: making the tough choices and budget cuts required to reduce America’s deficit and restore fiscal stability while also making bold investments in education, innovation, infrastructure and other areas critical to economic growth. President Obama’s 2012 budget proposal is a blueprint for success in both those efforts.” (Democratic National Committee, “Chairman Tim Kaine’s Statement On President Obama’s 2012 Budget,” Press Release, 2/14/11)

• Kaine: “The President’s Budget Does Not Shy Away From The Reality Of America’s Difficult Fiscal Situation.” (Democratic National Committee, “Chairman Tim Kaine’s Statement On President Obama’s 2012 Budget,” Press Release, 2/14/11)

Even Budget Experts On Both Sides Blasted The Obama-Kaine Budget….

• ERSKINE BOWLES, Democratic Chairman Of The Fiscal Commission: “The White House Budget Request Goes ‘Nowhere Near Where They Will Have To Go To Resolve Our Fiscal Nightmare.’” (“Obama Spending Plan Criticized For Avoiding Deficit Commission’s Major Proposals,” The Washington Post, 2/14/11)

• ROBERT BIXBY, Director Of The Concord Coalition: “The Entitlement And Tax Reform Agenda Will Apparently Be Deferred Yet Again … It Makes You Wonder What The Point Was Of Having A Commission In The First Place.” (“Budget Sets Battle Over Cuts,” USA Today, 2/14/11)