Democrats’ Fiscally Irresponsible Train Wreck of a Budget

Several Editorials have outlined the Democrats’ budget plan.  The National Review says their plan will constitute a $683 billion tax hike.  The Washington Times and Investor’s Business Daily point out that unlike the president’s latest budget plan the Democrats’ budget does nothing to address the exploding costs of entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security.

Investor’s Business Daily: “Taxocratic Rule. Jack Spratt may not have been able to consume any fat, but his namesake who chairs the House Budget Committee is making sure the federal government won’t be going on a diet anytime soon. …House Democrats weren’t just promising to deliver more goodies to the many beneficiaries of government largesse that form their political base; they were also promising that doing so would produce budget surpluses by 2012 and 2013. How? By factoring in the massive automatic tax increases that would come from the Bush tax cuts being allowed to expire. …Neither the House nor Senate budget plan addresses the exploding costs of entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security, with their built-in automatic spending increases.” (Editorial, 3/11/08)

National Review Online: “Taxing Budget. Very few congressional Democrats possess the candor to admit that they are in favor of letting the Bush tax cuts expire, yet for the second year in a row the Democrats have put forward a budget resolution that assumes rates will snap back to their previous levels. This would constitute a $683 billion tax hike over five years. …The Democrats’ budget is just as noticeable for what it leaves out. There is no attempt to address the looming entitlement crisis, as Medicare and Social Security obligations balloon in response to the retirement of the first baby boomers. There is no solution to the problem of earmarks, which allow members of Congress to direct funds to pet projects with little transparency or accountability. And there is no long-term fix to protect the middle class from the Alternative Minimum Tax.” (Editorial, 3/11/08)

The Washington Times: “The other budget plans.Unlike the president’s latest budget plan, which provided for Social Security private accounts beginning in 2013 and initiated the Medicare-reform process by calling for $178 billion in Medicare budget savings for the 2009-2013 period (and $556 billion in savings over the 2009-2018 period), the House and Senate blueprints effectively do nothing to begin addressing the long-term budget shortfalls for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. …Meanwhile, voters and businesses should keep this in mind: The present value of the de facto unfunded liabilities for the unreformed Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security programs will continue to increase by trillions of dollars each year.” (Editorial, 3/11/08)