Congressman Canseco's Statement on President's Deficit Speech

Statement

Congressman Francisco "Quico" Canseco (TX-23), a small business owner and a member of the Financial Services Committee, issued the following statement in reaction to President Obama's deficit speech:

"Our nation's long-term, spending-driven debt crisis is the most predictable crisis in American history. It's absolutely critical that we begin working today to address it if we are to avoid leaving our children and grandchildren buried under a mountain of debt. The American people get it, and I'm pleased that President Obama, after failing to propose any reforms to deal with this crisis in his 2012 budget released in February, has decided to finally join the conversation House Republicans are having with the American people by outlining a proposal of his own.

"Predictably, President Obama's plan is to ask Americans to send more of what they earn to Washington to ensure that Washington can continue spending. However, raising taxes on hard-working American families and small businesses is not the solution because Washington has a spending problem, not an income problem. Raising taxes would jeopardize job creation and economic recovery because every dollar that government takes in taxes to spend on its priorities is one less dollar that American families and businesses have to spend on their priorities. Government spending does not create jobs; if it did, given all the federal spending that has occurred over the past 2 years, we should be experiencing the biggest economic boom and most robust job creation in history- but we are not.

"The American people know we cannot continue spending money we don't have. The House of Representatives has put forward a fact-based budget that contains common sense solutions to responsibly solve our nation's debt crisis by cutting wasteful Washington spending, strengthening and saving valuable programs like Medicare for our children and grandchildren, and promoting common sense, pro-growth economic policies. American families and small businesses have had to tighten their belts and cut spending in these tough economic times, its time the federal government did the same."

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