Dan Coats: “It has been 4 years since the President made those statements, and here we are where we have added trillions of dollars…”

“It has been 4 years since the President made those statements, and here we are where we have added trillions of dollars of new debt--the greatest increase in the history of America, and we have ignored and pushed spending down the road without a real budget proposal or a long-term deficit plan. Experts and economists from both sides of the aisle agree that spending reductions must be a part of the equation to address our dangerous debt. The President has called for a balanced approach but is showing no signs of leadership on restructuring mandatory runaway spending. Even the Washington Post editorial board, which is not necessarily conservative, acknowledged this in a piece just recently on November 27, and I quote: Elections do have consequences, and Mr. Obama ran on a clear platform of increasing taxes on the wealthy. But he was clear on something else, too: Deficit reduction must be ``balanced,'' including spending cuts as well as tax increases. Since 60 percent of the federal budget goes to entitlement programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, there's no way to achieve balance without slowing the rate of growth in those programs. In conclusion, let me say this: There is a widespread consensus about the seriousness of this problem and the fact that we must take significant measures to rein in our deficit spending and do it now.…”