President Obama’s budget proposal reached Capitol Hill today and Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican, says it appears even some Democrats will declare the spending plan “dead on arrival.”
Grassley says the trillion-dollar budget plan suggests the president has abandoned any pretense of getting serious about putting America’s fiscal house in order. Grassley says, “Despite a fresh pitch for more federal spending, the reality from my point of view, is that Washington can’t tax, spend, borrow or regulate our way to prosperity.”
Included in the proposed budget is a plan to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit at a cost of 60-billion dollars, paying for the move by closing tax loopholes for the wealthy. While the president wants to add programs to the federal ledger, Grassley says that action would not only grow the size and scope of the federal government, it would also extend Uncle Sam’s reach deeper into taxpayers’ pockets.
Washington, Grassley says, needs to let go of the idea that Washington knows best. “The real drivers of economic growth are job creators up and down Main Street,” Grassley says. “The less time they have to spend on meeting regulations from Obamacare and especially the EPA, the more they can focus on building their business, raising wages and the end result of that is hiring more workers.”
According to Grassley, it’s “reckless and irresponsible to continue lifting the lid on spending again and again and again.” He says Washington needs a “reality check” to restoring fiscal discipline and demanding accountability for the way tax dollars are spent. “I’m not about to join the march to madness that allows America to tax, spend and borrow on the backs of generations yet to come,” Grassley says. “I’m focused on holding the line on unbridled federal spending and probably something worse, the regulatory overreach.”
Grassley says economic growth is what drives the creation of good-paying jobs which he says will “lift standards of living for people working hard to make ends meet.”