Murtha Critical of Proposed 2005 Budget

Murtha Critical of Proposed 2005 Budget

February 2, 2004 - U.S. Rep. John Murtha today issued the following statement about the President's proposed budget:
"This budget is just not realistic. It calls for increases in military spending, including a 13 percent increase in funding for a controversial missile defense program; but it omits an item as practical as the tens of billions, perhaps $40 billion next year alone, that we're going to need to keep troops in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2005 and beyond.

"It also calls for making the president's tax cuts permanent, giving the top 1 percent of taxpayers an average cut of $58,200 and middle-income Americans an average of $655. But economists predict that interest rates will go up because of the tax cuts and services will cost more because we'll have to cut the federal budget to pay for the tax cuts. In the end, middle-income workers might break even.

"On top of that, economists are telling us that indications are that tax cuts have had little positive effect on economic growth. We've lost 2.9 million private-sector jobs over the last three years, so I believe that. If the cuts aren't working and only the very wealthy benefit, it certainly doesn't make sense to make them permanent.

"Three years ago, we had a record surplus. Now we're looking at a record deficit. We need to get our priorities in order and deal with real issues. We need to develop a workable plan for Iraq and Afghanistan, we need to create jobs, we have to fix the Medicare prescription-drug fiasco, we have to address the endangered Social Security surplus and we have to stop passing tax cuts that we can't afford because our economic future is on the line."