More than two months after the legal deadline, President Obama has unveiled his long-awaited budget for fiscal year 2014. After four years of trillion-dollar deficits, many had hoped that the President’s plan would seek bipartisan agreement on responsible deficit reduction and practical ways to boost economic growth. This budget does not achieve those goals.

Submitting a budget on time and in accordance with the law would have been a constructive first step and signal of presidential leadership. Instead, this is the fourth time in five years that President Obama has missed the budget’s February due date. The President’s plan was released weeks after the approval of budget resolutions in both the Senate and House of Representatives, which are required to pass a budget by April 15 each year. For the first time in 92 years, the President delayed producing his budget blueprint until after both houses of Congress had acted on their own proposals.

More Spending, More Debt

The proposal itself is yet another tax-and-spend attempt by the President to grow the government and not the economy. His budget never balances, adds $8.2 trillion in new debt over 10 years, and uses gimmicks to promise deficit reduction. By the end of 2023, the federal debt would amount to $25.4 trillion, with interest payments reaching nearly $800 billion. Government spending would increase by 56 percent.

At the same time, President Obama continues to ask American families and businesses to send more of their hard-earned money to Washington. The budget calls for $1.1 trillion in new taxes, adding to the tax increases already enacted earlier this year.

Cutting Government Waste

As Mississippians know, the government cannot borrow and tax its way to a stronger and more prosperous economy. The President’s budget misses a critical opportunity to target government waste and rein in out-of-control federal spending.

The third annual report on wasteful spending from the Government Accountability Office confirms that there is plenty of inefficient bureaucracy to trim. The report, released on April 9, reveals billions of dollars in potential savings from overlapping government programs. It is wrong to ask Americans to shoulder more financial burdens when funds are being wasted because of government bloat.

Boosting Economic Growth

The warnings are clear that America urgently needs a pro-growth agenda. The latest report from the Labor Department states that only 88,000 jobs were created in March – far below the numbers necessary to keep up with population growth. Last month, about half a million Americans dropped out of the labor force entirely.

Republicans have repeatedly stressed that more taxes are not the answer to persistently high unemployment and sluggish economic growth. Reducing regulatory burdens and empowering job creators are fundamental ways to encourage investment and put America back on a strong financial path. Lowering the total federal debt – now nearly $17 trillion – is part of this process. Research shows that public debt higher than 90 percent of gross domestic product negatively impacts the economy.

Any serious approach to a budget will have to address the skyrocketing cost of entitlement spending. The President’s budget at least acknowledges the need for reform, although its modest changes would hardly ensure the solvency of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for current retirees and future generations. There may be a glimmer of optimism that these issues are on the table for discussion, but many tough decisions remain.

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