Bush's Fiscal Policy Rhetoric Continues to Fall Short

PRESS STATEMENT
-For Immediate Release-
January 24, 2007

Contact: Brian Gumm, (202) 234-8494, bgumm@ombwatch.org

Bush's Fiscal Policy Rhetoric Continues to Fall Short
President Postures on Fiscal Responsibility Issues but is Unlikely to Deliver on Promises

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2007—Adam Hughes, Fiscal Policy Director at OMB Watch, made the following statement in response to President George W. Bush's 2007 State of the Union address:

Last night, President Bush spent a small portion of his State of the Union address paying lip service to fiscal responsibility and balanced budgets — about the same amount of time he has committed during his presidency to actually being fiscally responsible. Nonetheless, the President made a number of vague pledges — to balance the annual federal budget, to institute long-term fixes to Medicare and Medicaid, and to "save" an otherwise incredibly stable and successful Social Security program — but provided scant details. The president urged Congress to support all of his broad proposals and to do so without raising any more revenue. Unfortunately, the president still does not understand that this approach just won't work, and given his track record, it is difficult to see his pledges last night as anything more than idle words.

Bush's ambiguous references to balanced budgets betray the lessons of the last six years under his administration. During that time, we saw little regard for balanced budgets and fiscal discipline as deficit-exploding tax cuts were the continuous focus of the White House. What's more, the president's veto pen went unused despite appropriations bills bursting with earmarks, large and important aspects of the federal budget were removed from oversight and control mechanisms through supplemental "emergency" funding requests, and the administration showed no diligence to prepare for the future by embracing pay-as-you-go principles.

It is also difficult to take the president's words on entitlement reforms seriously, considering his previous record. Despite spending an overwhelming amount of time, money and political capital in an attempt to incorporate private accounts into Social Security, he made no progress in instituting real reforms to stabilize the program. Instead, the federal government wasted time debating issues not central to the crux of the problem, Bush remained inflexible on raising more revenues over the long-term, and nothing was accomplished. The president's remarks did not make clear what has changed to make progress more likely now.

The most specific part of the president's speech on fiscal matters was on earmark and budget reform, issues that have already been acted upon by the new Democratic Congress. The president has come late to the game of earmark reform and disclosure, and while his comments are worthy of praise, it appears he made this a priority merely for political reasons rather than fiscal ones. It will take more than jumping on the latest reform bandwagon to address the important, long-term fiscal policy issues facing our nation today.

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