Hodes and Gregg on federal budget

U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg and U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes has released statements about President Obama's budget. Below are the key parts from their statements.

U.S. Sen. Gregg remarks at yesterday’s Senate Budget Committee hearing on the President Obama’s FY10 Budget Proposal:

“The budget on balance spends too much, taxes too much and borrows too much, it’s that simple.”

“I do not argue with the fact that we are in a severe economic downturn…the government has had to step up with a massive injection, an historic injection, of liquidity to try to move the markets and move the economy forward, and that has cost money in the short-run and we accept that. The problem is that that effort to try to stabilize the economy has been used as a straw dog for the purposes of expanding the size of government in the out-years exponentially, moving the government to the left in a way that has never been projected or seen before, should it be successful.”

“The budget proposes about $1.4 trillion in new taxes over the next ten years, about $725 billion in new discretionary spending and $1.2 trillion in new mandatory spending and virtually no savings.”

Here is what U.S. Paul Hodes said before the House Budget Committee:

We have inherited a 1.4 trillion dollar deficit from the previous administration and have been forced to attempt the largest recovery effort since the Great Depression. Combined with the financial rescue package and other federal spending, the budget deficit will unavoidably reach a record high this year. This is a painful necessity which must be diligently addressed. In this historic economic crisis, we cannot afford government waste and spending on programs that won’t help us reach our national goals. As a result, we must be vigilant in promoting job creation, and rebuilding our economy by investing in infrastructure, education, a 21st century energy plan and health care reform. We must make a long term commitment to debt reduction and responsible long term spending. While decisive action has been and will be necessary, we must ensure that we are not saddling our children and grandchildren with unnecessary debt. After eight years of borrow and spend policies, we must not spend billions on wasteful government programs that will not create jobs and rebuild our economy.

I remain concerned that the President has proposed additional funding for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) for banks and institutions without additional oversight and transparency. TARP has lacked sufficient oversight and accountability from its outset, and in recent weeks we have seen new examples of abuse within the program. Due to lack of sufficient funding and lack of zeal by the Securities and Exchange Commission, they have not adequately enforced regulations and cracked down on Wall Street corruption. The Madoff ponzi scheme stands out as a flagrant example of failure of action by federal regulators.