On the recordApril 11, 2013
I rise today to speak on the budget proposal released at long last yesterday by President Obama. Tardy though this budget may be, and despite our differences in opinion, I welcome the President's ideas to begin addressing our Nation's fiscal crisis and runaway spending. Unfortunately, though, I am disappointed that this budget amounts to more taxes, more spending, and more debt. The President's budget calls for $1.1 trillion more in taxes, on top of the $660 billion in tax hikes the President already demanded and won as part of the fiscal cliff deal enacted at the beginning of the year, before I arrived in Washington. That is a grand total of $1.8 trillion in tax hikes--before we add in another trillion dollar tax from ObamaCare. Yet, despite all of this new so-called ``revenue,'' the President's budget would never balance. No amount of taxes will ever begin to address our Nation's $17 trillion debt. But taxes aren't the only problem with the President's budget. There is also a trillion dollars in new spending. We tried that in 2009. It didn't work then and it won't work now. To spend more, we have to borrow more. The President's budget would add $8.2 trillion in new debt over the next 10 years. Of particular concern to farmers, ranchers, and small businesses in Nebraska is a proposed hike in the death tax.…
