Standing in front of a Baltimore County middle school yesterday, President Barack Obama said, “Even as we cut out things that we can afford to do without, we have a responsibility to invest in those areas that will have the biggest impact in our future. And that’s especially true when it comes to education.” Accordingly, the President’s budget includes a $13 billion increase in Department of Education spending from the 2010 budget. But this is hardly the first time a White House has significantly raised education spending.In fact, since 2001 federal education spending has already increased by 100 percent. And going back to 1970, it has almost tripled. And what have been the results of this federal “investment” in our future? Nothing. Department of Education spending has completely failed to raise student achievement over the past 30 years. This is the story of President Obama’s budget: too much spending, too much taxes, and too much borrowing—all of which has already failed to create jobs today and will make it harder for our children to find jobs in the future.
Since President Barack Obama was sworn into office, total entitlement spending has grown 4 percent, total discretionary has soared 16 percent, and the national debt has exploded 43 percent. Over that same time the United States economy has lost 3.3 million jobs. President Obama cannot be blamed for the most recent recession, but he can certainly be held accountable for the failure of his deficit spending policies in response.
The fiscal year 2012 budget released yesterday by the President doubles down on this failed record. The White House is trying to portray this document as a spending cut. Specifically, they claim the President’s budget reduces 2012 discretionary spending by 5 percent. But as Heritage Foundation scholar J. D. Foster details, these “cuts” are made possible only by three gimmicks: (1) redefining Pell grants as mandatory spending, (2) reclassifying $54 billion of surface transportation spending from discretionary spending to mandatory spending, and (3) reducing funding for Iraq and Afghanistan by $38.2 billion in 2012. Reversing these budget tricks not only wipes out the entirety of President Obama’s claimed $77 billion in spending cuts; it actually reveals them to be a $31 billion increase in discretionary spending. This is moving the ball in the wrong direction, and the American people know it....
Read the rest of Conn Carroll's enlightening article here at the Heritage Foundation. And then please pass the word to others. The MSM is spinning Barack Obama as a changed man, a fellow moving to the center, willing to work with Republicans -- hey, they're even likening him to Ronald Reagan!. So we must make it clear to them that Obama not only remains an unrepentant big spender but that he's playing dirty politics again to get his way. Pass this post on.
