Apr 30 2009

Graham Statement on the Democrat’s $3.4 Trillion Budget

WASHINGTON-  U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) made these statements after he voted against President Obama and the congressional Democrat’s $3.4 trillion budget plan.  Graham is a member of the Senate Budget Committee. 

 On Spending Levels:

“President Obama has already spent $12 billion every day he has been in office.  This budget is not good news for the American taxpayer.  It transforms the country in a way I don’t think is helpful.  We’re going to have a hard time looking the next generation in the eye and saying, ‘You’re going to have a chance to do better than us.’  This budget sustains massive deficits for years and explodes the national debt to 67 percent of GDP by 2014.  We’re growing the size of government in a way future generations simply can’t afford.”

 On Taxation:

“The Democratic budget raises taxes by $1 trillion on entrepreneurs and small business owners.  This means less money for the people who start businesses and create jobs.  The day we start rewarding the government and punishing people for the risk they take as entrepreneurs is the day the American model of free enterprise beings to dim.”

 On Protecting our Nation:

“Whether the Democrats like it or not, we are the arsenal of democracy.  Now is not the time to get cheap on defense and that is exactly what the Obama budget proposal does.” 

 On Health Care:

“Using reconciliation for something as critical as health care is a complete misuse of the budget process.  It’s likely the Democrats plan to introduce a radical health care plan that will lose the support of many of their moderate Democrats and all the Senate Republicans.  Surely the Obama Administration, if it truly believes in bipartisanship, will be able to find one Republican to get to 60 votes and not have to resort to reconciliation.”

 On the Future:

“There is a better way.  Let’s keep taxes competitive and as low as possible, realizing we’ve got a government to run.  Let’s spend wisely.  Let’s reform health care so the federal government doesn’t decide what doctor you see and what treatment you get.  To my Democratic colleagues, you run this place now.  The mistakes Republicans made are real, but you don’t fix those mistakes by spending more than we did.  You don’t fix the problems facing the next generation by growing the government at a pace and level they can’t pay for.  This lack of bipartisanship and business as usual spending is the complete opposite of what President Obama campaigned on.  This is not the change anyone voted for and it’s certainly not change I can believe in.”

 

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