President Obama sent Congress his $3.8 trillion budget calling for billions of dollars in new spending to fight high unemployment.
South Carolina’s Congressman James Clyburn, the House Majority Whip, has been on the media front lines for the Democrats lately and fielded budget questions Monday on Fox News: ”I think the President is putting forth some big, big ideas. Let’s take for instance, this budget on nuclear energy. We have been talking about our investments on nuclear energy, what that will do to create new jobs. Going from $18-billion investment up to $54-billion in investments. That’s a pretty big deal to me and I think it’s a pretty big deal to the American people.” Obama’s budget would also cut funding for hundreds of programs and raise taxes on banks and the wealthy to help rein in increasing budget deficits. Critics are calling it “fiscal insanity.”
Clyburn disagrees, “You’ve got to grow the economy. You’re not going to bring down the deficit and you’re not going eliminate these problems without growing the economy. And you’re not going to grow the economy by wishing it. You’re going to have to invest in it. And that’s what we’re doing with this budget -growing the economy. And I think that’s a good thing.”
South Carolina Congressman John Spratt, Chair of the House Budget Committee says that later this week, the House of Representatives will vote to reinstate a statutory Pay-As-You-Go system in spending.
