Newsletter: The Webster Wire - Your Budget, Mr. President?

Statement

Dear Friend,

For the past 70 years, Mount Dora Christian Home and Bible School has been a center for academic excellence in the North Lake community, drawing students from surrounding cities and counties. On Friday, I took a tour of the newest building and spoke with the students in the Media Center to answer their questions and share about the work I do to represent them in Congress.

Afterwards, I participated in the ribbon cutting for the Jerome B. Thompson Science Center and Samuels Student Center as they opened their new building and rebranded their school as Mount Dora Christian Academy.

Emphasizing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, Lake County brought together teams from all over the county to compete in the 2015 STEM Bowl. On Friday, I joined Lake County Schools Superintendent Susan Moxley, administrators, teachers and parents as 5th grade students competed for the top prize.

On Friday, I received an update from Peruvian Congressman Julio Rosas as their delegation traveled to Washington to attend the National Prayer Breakfast. I have met with Congressman Rosas during the past several years as he works to foster solid government principles in Peru.

I also met last week with representatives from a new veterans' educational facility that just opened in Orlando. Veterans Assembled electronics (VAe) offers a program for disabled veterans to become trained and certified with modern electronics in order to equip them for employment and a sustainable career.

Legislative Update:

President Obama released his budget last week, which is estimated to increase spending by $74 billion (7%) above the caps previously agreed to by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress. At the congressional Democrat retreat earlier, the president indicated that he believed the economy was recovering at such a rate that there was no need to continue to focus on reducing spending.

The Commerce Department, however, recently released a report that showed the economy expanded at a rate of 2.6% for the fourth quarter. This represents a sharp slowdown as the third quarter rate was 5% and the second quarter rate was 4.6%.‎ The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office also produced a report last week that projected the debt held by the public will increase to $21.6 trillion in 2025, and total federal debt will increase to $26.2 trillion in 2025.‎

Over the coming weeks, the House will begin crafting a response to the President's budget. Our budget will lay out many policy priorities that we hope to tackle over the coming year, but most importantly, our budget will balance, which is something the President's budget has never done.

Your servant,

Daniel Webster
Member of Congress

Source