Can We Rein In The Budget?

President Obama said:

At this time last year, amidst headlines about banks on the verge of collapse and job losses of 700 thousand a month, the White House received another troubling piece of news about the American economy. The United States’ economy was shrinking at an alarming rate — it was the largest six-month decline in 50 years.

Factories and farms were producing less; businesses were selling less; and more job losses were on the horizon.

However, one year later, according to numbers released this past week, this trend has reversed itself. For the past six months, the American economy has been growing again. And lat quarter, it grew more quickly than at any time in the past six years. This is a sign of progress. And it’s an affirmation of the difficult decisions the White House made last year to pull the American financial system back from the brink and get the economy moving again.

Nevertheless, when so many people are still struggling — and when one in ten Americans still can’t find work, and millions more are working harder and longer for less — the White House’s mission isn’t just to grow the economy. It’s to grow jobs for folks who want them, and ensure wages that are rising for those who have them. It’s not just about improvements reported in quarterly statistics, but ones people feel in their daily lives — that equal to a bigger paycheck; and/or more security; and/or the ability to give your kids a decent shot in life and still have enough to retire on one day.

That’s why job creation will be the White House’s number one focus in 2010. The White House will put more Americans back to work rebuilding America’s infrastructure all across the country. And since the true engines of job creation are America’s businesses, President Obama proposed tax credits to help them hire new workers, raise wages, and invest in new plants and equipment. He also wants to eliminate all capital gains taxes on small business investment, and help small businesses to get the loans they need to open their doors and expand their operations.

As President Obama works to create jobs, it is critical that we rein in the budget deficits that have been accumulating for far too long — deficits that won’t just burden our children and grandchildren, but could damage the American markets by driving up interest rates, and jeopardize recovery efforts.

There are certain core principles American families and businesses follow whey they sit down to do their own budgets. They accept that they can’t get everything they want and they focus on what they really need. They make tough decisions and sacrifice for their kids. They don’t spend what they don’t have, and they make do with what they’ve got.

It’s time the American government did the same. That’s why President Obama is pleased that the Senate has just restored the pay-as-you-go law that was in place back in the 90s. It’s no coincidence that we ended that decade with a $236 billion surplus (That’s the Clinton Years, Folks). Reinstating this law will help the American economy get back on track, ensuring that every time the White House spends money they find somewhere to cut it from.

President Obama has also proposed a spending freeze, so that as the White House increase investments in things we need, the government will also cut spending on those things we don’t need.

President Obama has also called for a bi-partisan fiscal commission — which will be a panel of Democrats and Republicans who will sit down and hammer out concrete deficit-reduction proposals by a certain deadline.

This past week, 53 Democrats and Republicans voted for the Fiscal Commission in the Senate. But it failed when seven Republicans who had co-sponsored this idea in the first place suddenly decided to vote against it.

President Obama is eager and ready to work with anyone who’s serious about solving the real problems facing Americans and the economy.

Reining in Budget Deficits — President Obama Weekly Address

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