Congressman Jeb Hensarling Weekly Republican Address 02/06/10 VIDEO FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT Remarks by Rep. Jeb Hensarling, as provided by the Republican National Committee
Hi, I’m Congressman Jeb Hensarling of Texas; I serve as the number two Republican on the House Budget Committee.
 | Some of you may have seen me on television last week when I had the opportunity to ask the President if his new budget would once again triple the national debt and dramatically increase the cost of government to 25 percent of the economy – up from its traditional 20 percent. |
You may recall that the President declined to answer the question last week. But he has certainly answered it this week by submitting a new budget that does exactly what I feared.
The numbers in his budget are simply breathtaking: a record $3.8 trillion in spending, more than $2 trillion in new job crushing taxes, not to mention a tripling of the national debt – on top of the largest deficit in our nation’s history. Interest payments alone on this debt will set us back roughly $6 trillion over the next decade – that’s about $50,000 per household.
Now, you’re probably like me and believe, in America, you ought to work hard today, so your children can have a better, more prosperous tomorrow. But with this budget, it is like Washington has said, ‘let’s let government live easier today, so our children have to work harder tomorrow.’
You know, it was about this same time last year, President Obama and Democrats in Congress promised that if we passed their trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ bill – and grew big government even more – that jobs would be created ‘immediately,’ they said unemployment would remain below eight percent.
Well, Republicans stood on principle and offered a better alternative that, according to an analysis developed by the President’s own economic advisors, would have created twice the jobs at half the cost. But, Democrats chose to go it alone and jam through their ‘stimulus.’
What did the American people get? A bill for $1.2 trillion and three million more jobs lost.
Americans are still asking, ‘where are the jobs?’ but all they are getting from Washington is more spending, more taxes, more debt and more bailouts.
Now, when it comes to budget matters, I usually find myself agreeing with about 80 percent of what the President says, but I disagree with 80 percent of what he does.
While the President’s budget rhetoric gives a nod to reducing the deficit, he punts the problem to a ‘commission’ that does not yet exist, and whose recommendations may never see the light of day. We have to do better.
Additionally, President Obama’s proposed spending freeze unfortunately is not really a freeze at all. It exempts 86 percent of the federal budget from the freezer, doesn’t turn on the freezer until next year and then turns it off shortly thereafter.
In fact, when you run the numbers, the President’s idea of fiscal responsibility unfortunately amounts to choosing to grow government by 49.01 percent over 10 years instead of 49.27 percent. We have got to do better.
Serious fiscal responsibility requires more than just tinkering around the margins. Republicans have proposed adopting strict budget caps that limit federal spending on an annual basis and are enforceable by the President. These caps were a critical plank in the fiscally-responsible budget alternative Republicans proposed last year and yet they are noticeably absent from the President’s budget.
The federal budget must never be allowed to grow faster than the family’s budget ability to pay for it. You can learn more about our better Republican budget solutions on the web at solutions.GOP.gov.
So, you pile up all this Democrat spending, all their borrowing, all their debt, you add it to their government takeover of health care, their ‘cap-and-trade’ national energy tax and their continued bailouts – is it little wonder that job growth is lagging in our economy? Small business owners and investors tell me every week, ‘We’re not taking the risk to start or expand a business in this climate.’
We cannot continue on this reckless path, and the American people know it. But now it’s up to Democrats in Washington to listen and change course. We’re willing to work with them, but we will continue to stand on principle, we will oppose more reckless Washington spending, and we will fight for better solutions that make government live within its means. Our budget plan will help create jobs, prevent a fiscal calamity and give our children a brighter economic future. Thank you for listening. ####
