John Cornyn, US Senator from Texas

Reckless spending priorities pose threat to Texas taxpayers

By U.S. SEN. JOHN CORNYN as published in the Houston Chronicle
March 16, 2009, 3:07PM

‘Last week Congress approved the latest installment of President Obama’s reckless spending plan. The omnibus spending bill added another $410 billion to the taxpayers’ tab, just weeks after approval of a stimulus package that will cost more than $1 trillion, including interest. With this new bill, we have spent more money since Inauguration Day than we have in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and in response to Hurricane Katrina — combined.

Government is growing, but Texas taxpayers are hurting. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas estimates that our state could lose nearly 300,000 jobs this year, and that our unemployment rate could reach 8 percent. The stock market lost a quarter of its value in the first two months of this year — further eroding the pensions and savings that support seniors in their retirement. A slowing economy also defers the dreams of our young people who are entering the job market and want to start their own families.

I had hoped that President Obama would send us a budget plan that would hasten our economic recovery — and keep the promises he made last year. I appreciated his pledge to go line by line through the federal budget to eliminate wasteful spending. I welcomed his commitment to eliminate capital gains taxes for new small businesses. And I agreed that we must reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

Yet the president’s spending plan reflects far different priorities that I cannot support. Instead of eliminating wasteful spending, the omnibus bill funded 122 programs we already covered in the stimulus bill. Overall, the president’s $3.6 trillion budget will double the national debt over the next five years, and triple it over the next decade. But the biggest disappointments in his budget are the tax increases. Over the next ten years, the president will raise net taxes by $1.4 trillion, with devastating consequences for job creation and economic growth.

First, President Obama wants to raise taxes on small businesses. Small businesses create two-thirds of the new jobs in our economy, and most pay taxes on their small business income as individuals. Raising taxes on the most successful small businesses will force layoffs or reduce new investment across Texas. And President Obama has now proposed delaying the implementation of his capital gains tax pledge until 2014, while actually raising capital gains taxes over the next several years on many small businesses.

Second, President Obama wants to raise taxes on America’s energy producers. Texans understand that 90 percent of U.S. wells are operated by small and independent businesses, and these wells help reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Yet the president wants to repeal nine oil and gas tax incentives that encourage these entrepreneurs to develop America’s natural resources and create new jobs. And the impact on the consumer could be just as serious. As we witnessed last summer, higher energy costs will drive up prices at the gas pump, at the supermarket and throughout our economy.

Third, President Obama wants to raise taxes through a complicated “cap-and-trade” scheme imported from Europe. “Cap-and-trade” would hit the consumer much like an additional national sales tax on energy. This approach has failed to reduce carbon emissions overseas, but it has succeeded in raising electricity bills across the continent. I share the president’s goal of transitioning to cleaner energy technologies, but we cannot get there by increasing utility bills for every homeowner in the land.

The president’s tax-and-spend extravaganza will delay economic recovery in Texas — and make it harder to address our biggest fiscal challenge.

The federal government has made promises totaling $67 trillion to future beneficiaries of Social Security, Medicare and other entitlement programs. Instead of taking responsibility for this challenge, our government is making more promises it can’t keep, and passing on the largest debt in human history to our children and grandchildren.’

Sounds like John’s got a problem with the President’s change.