Justin Brokar

Kansas Congressional Delegation Reacts To President’s Budget

Republican Congressional representatives from Kansas aren’t ready to jump on board with President Obama’s budget proposal.

Reps. Lynn Jenkins and Tim Huelskamp, Sen. Pat Roberts, and Sen. Jerry Moran issued statements expressing concerns about the spending proposal.

From Sen. Pat Roberts: “I am encouraged that the president has, to some extent, joined the debate regarding our staggering national debt—the number one concern of the American people.

“On the positive side, he has proposed cuts and is asking all Americans to sacrifice for the good of our children and grandchildren. That made for a good speech, but facts are stubborn things. It was just last February the president proposed a budget for fiscal year 2012 that astoundingly would have seen our debt grow to over $20 trillion in five years. We are over $14 trillion today and exploding daily.

“Now, after weeks of wrangling in the Congress and proposed tough leadership on deficit reduction, we get budget number two in the form of a speech. I am concerned his plan targets the very engines that will power our nation’s economic recovery, our small businesses, and that his details on mandatory spending cuts—where serious reforms are to be found—are vague at best. Nevertheless, I welcome the president to the debate.”

From Rep. Lynn Jenkins:“I was pleased when I heard President Obama had finally decided to follow the leadership of Paul Ryan and House Republicans by weighing in on debt reduction. Unfortunately, yet again, the President has come to the table with mere platitudes, broad ambiguous goals, offers of meetings, and few specific details”

“The President has tried twice now, once with his budget in February and again today with his so called ‘long term debt reduction plan’ and both times he has left Americans wanting. If the President wants a third chance to offer serious proposals that grow our economy, preserve and protect programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, and set us on a path to pay down the national debt, I am open to hearing his ideas. However, any plan that claims it will reduce the deficit by expanding Obamacare and raising taxes is clearly flawed and is a non-starter for me and most House Republicans. ”

From Rep. Tim Huelskamp:“The traditional laws of addition and subtraction must not apply in Washington,” Congressman Huelskamp said. “A deeper calculation of this spending ‘deal’ using figures available from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reveals that this actually only saves $352 million in direct spending. With 308 million people in the United States, that’s a savings of $1.14 per person, enough to buy one item at the dollar store. By comparison, the federal government has $45,931 in debt per person.”

“In the last two hours, the country has borrowed about $352 million, so we’re making no progress in getting out of the red. The American people are looking for meaningful reductions that actually will make a difference to our $1.6 trillion deficit and our $14.3 trillion of debt. Therefore, I will vote against the spending deal for 2011.”

Sen. Jerry Moran

“We can no longer afford ‘business as usual’ in Washington, which is why I am disappointed President Obama has once again proposed tax increases to pay down our deficits. The reality is money raised by Washington D.C., results in more spending in Washington, D.C. The president’s proposal falls short of addressing the reality of our fiscal crisis.”

Source: WIBW 

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