By Fred Lucas
(CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama said his budget--to be released Wednesday--would not spend beyond our means.
“It’s a budget that doesn’t spend beyond our means, and it’s a budget that doesn’t make harsh and unnecessary cuts that only serve to slow our economy,” Obama said Saturday during his weekly address. “We’ll keep our promise to an aging generation by shoring up Medicare, and we’ll keep our promise to the next generation by investing in the fundamentals that always made America strong--manufacturing, innovation, energy and education.”
However, on Friday, White House Spokesman Jay Carney did not say the president's budget would ever balance the federal accounts. Instead, he said it would reduce the "deficit." The deficit is the amount the government spends above and beyond revenue in any given year. Deficit spending is financed by the government borrowing money and increasing the national debt.
The federal debt now exceeds $16.7 trillion.
“In addition to replacing the sequester, we would have an additional $600 billion in deficit reduction bringing us to $4.3 trillion overall over a decade, which exceeds the goal set by bipartisan commissions,” Carney said.
The Congressional Budget Office said in its March Monthly Budget Review, “If lawmakers enacted no further legislation affecting spending or revenues, the federal government would end fiscal year 2013 with a deficit of $845 billion.”
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
