Amodei statement on 'Path to Prosperity' budget

IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Brian Baluta, 202-225-6155

March 20, 2012

WASHINGTON, D.C. --Congressman Mark Amodei (NV-2) today released the following statement on the Republican House Budget Committee "Path to Prosperity," which was released this morning.

Congressman Amodei:

As the saying goes, 'you're entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts.' Here are the facts:

According to the U.S. Treasury, our national debt, at more than $15.5 trillion, has eclipsed our gross domestic product. To put it another way, we are officially 'underwater' as a country, owing more money than our entire economy is worth. The President has added more debt in a single term -- approaching $5 trillion -- than any president in history.

Faced with these facts, what did the President do? Last year, he submitted a budget that would triple the national debt over ten years. Understandably, it did not receive a single vote, falling in the Democrat-controlled Senate 97-0. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what you call bi-partisan opposition.

In his latest budget, introduced earlier this year, the President would increase spending, raise taxes, give an unelected panel of bureaucrats even greater power to cut Medicare, and add $11 trillion to the debt over 10 years.

In contrast, building on the success of the House-passed budget from last year, the Republican House Budget Committee today introduced the "Path to Prosperity" budget, which:

• Restores fiscal sanity by cutting spending $5 trillion compared to the President's plan and puts us on a path to a balanced budget.

• Simplifies the tax code for the middle class and small businesses.

• Ensures a level playing field for all by putting an end to special-interest favoritism and crony-capitalism.

• Protects Medicare for current beneficiaries and those approaching eligibility, while preserving the program for future generations.

• Reverses the President’s anti-energy policies that drive up gas prices, and instead promotes American energy production to lower costs, create jobs, and reduce dependence on foreign oil.

• Prioritizes national security by identifying strategy-driven savings, while funding defense at levels that keep America and our service men and women safe.

Most importantly, this budget takes power away from Washington, D.C. to put it back in the hands of citizens who are better stewards of their own money and health rather than politicians and unelected bureaucrats.

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