Democratic Budget Proposal Is A Threat To America’s Economy

March 21, 2007

WASHINGTON, DC - Congressman David Dreier (R-San Dimas, CA), House Rules Committee Ranking Republican, today made the following statement regarding the Democratic budget proposal to vastly increase government spending:

“Today House Democrats released a budget proposal that threatens to derail our continued economic growth. By mandating the largest tax increase United States history, some $392.5 billion, the Democrats’ budget proposal would weaken our economy’s engines of growth and job creation in order to increase wasteful spending and bring back the era of big government.

“This proposal clearly ignores the economic gains that have resulted from the Republican pro‑growth agenda. Since Republicans passed tax relief measures in 2003, the United States economy has created 7.6 million new jobs and gross domestic product (GDP) has grown at an annualized rate of 3.5 percent over the last 15 quarters. What’s more, because of this tax relief, Treasury revenues have soared, allowing us to fund priorities like homeland security and education, while cutting deficit projections in half over the past two years.

“The House Democrats’ budget proposal also fails to tackle entitlement reform despite repeated warnings from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) of the looming fiscal and economic crisis these programs pose. Time and time again, House Republicans worked to provide meaningful entitlement reform, reduce wasteful government spending and eliminate the deficit. This budget proposal fails to make these tough reform choices and will instead attempt to achieve its goals by increasing the tax burden of American entrepreneurs and workers.”