Senator Gregg: CBO Analysis Of President's FY 2011 Budget Confirms That Deficits And Debt Remain Sky-High

Statement

Publicly Held Debt Will Reach $20 Trillion, or 90% of GDP, by 2020

Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH), ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, today commented on the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) re-estimate of President Obama's fiscal year 2011 budget proposal.

"Today's CBO analysis of the President's FY 2011 budget confirms that the President's budget plan will bankrupt the country. CBO estimates that the deficit will hit $1.5 trillion in 2010 and never get below 4% of GDP over the next eleven years. A fiscally sound country should not be running deficits higher than 3% of its GDP.

"The outlook for our debt is even worse. Under the President's budget, publicly held debt will grow from 53% of GDP in 2009 to 90% of GDP in 2020. The President's budget puts us on track to double publicly held debt in five years, and nearly triple it in ten years -- a statistic that is unchanged from a year ago, which is simply unacceptable. What family could survive if its spending habits caused its credit card interest payments to jump from 10% of the family's income in 2010 to 21% of its income within a decade? Not many, but the government is putting the American taxpayer in just that position with interest payments on the debt.

"Instead of focusing on ways to railroad the American people into more government, spending and debt, as evidenced by the health care bill, the President should have sent Congress a budget blueprint that aggressively restrains spending, reduces the debt, and puts in place steps to address our unfunded entitlement obligations. This massive expansion of government being pushed by the President and the Democratic Congress will have a devastating impact on the lives of our children and grandchildren, who will inherit a legacy of debt and bankruptcy."

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