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Bob McDonnell on Budget & Economy |
The President's partial freeze on discretionary spending is a laudable step, but a small one. The circumstances demand that we reconsider and restore the proper, limited role of government at every level.
Without reform, the excessive growth of government threatens our very liberty and prosperity. In recent months, the American people have made clear that they want government leaders to listen and act on the issues most important to them. We want results, not rhetoric.
That's an outdated Republican talking point that failed to account for the most recent Congressional Budget Office report released a few days ago. CBO's latest figures show the public debt increasing from $7.5 trillion at the end of fiscal year 2009 (which ended Sept. 30) to $11.6 trillion in 2014 and $14.3 trillion in 2019. That's an increase of about 55% in five years and 91% in 10 years, far less than the doubling and tripling of which McDonnell spoke.
McDonnell is even further off the mark if counting what's called the "gross" debt, which includes money the government owes to itself, chiefly in IOUs held by the Social Security trust funds. CBO's latest report shows the gross debt at $11.9 trillion for 2009, and expected to rise to $16.7 trillion and $20.6 trillion. That figures out to be increases of 40% and 73%.
