By: Jennifer Chang
The Congress Budget Office estimated the federal deficit to be $1.4 trillion on Wednesday. Despite the large deficit, Democrats are pushing Obama to extend elements on the stimulus package. Also, with job employment rates not picking up, the White House is planning to extend unemployment benefits. Congressional leaders are also pushing to give tax credit to employers who hire new employees. The big issue with this is employers taking advantage by firing their current employees and re-hiring them to earn the tax credit. President Obama had originally pushed for this plan but it was rejected do to this concern. Despite this year being the largest deficit in US history, Democrats continue to push for more stimulus plans and more money-spending bills, which will only be an opening for Republican criticism.
Besides this massive budget deficit, the healthcare plan is still being pushed through by Democrats. According to the CBO, the $83 billion healthcare plan will eventually lower the deficit, by creating an $81 billion surplus, but Republicans argue that the plan will only reduce the deficit because of increases in taxes and fees that Americans will have to pay. Whether or not the healthcare plan will actually go through remains to be seen as the Senate continues to ask Democrats for more disclosure on the plan, saying they will not vote on it until they get it.
http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/10/08/new-healthcare-bill-wont-hurt-deficit-what-about-your-wallet/
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a2F9BBYF3eCE
Well, the healthcare bill did wind up passing, and we're still having ongoing budget issues. Why not roll back taxation and spending to year 2000 levels when we had a surplus?
ReplyDelete