Pelosi Statement on CBO Analysis of Obama Budget

Pelosi Statement on CBO Analysis of Obama Budget

Friday, March 20, 2009

Contact:Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C.â€"Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today on the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of President Obama’s budget and projections for the federal budget deficit.

"With rising unemployment and home foreclosures and a frozen credit market, it is no surprise that revenues would continue to decline and that the budget deficit President Obama inherited from the previous Administration would increase. After eight years of economic neglect, obfuscation and mismanagement, it will take time and steady leadership to get our nation’s budget back in order.

"The best way to reduce the deficit is to grow our economy; the best way to grow our economy is to act on the priorities in the President’s budget. President Obama’s budget will transform our economy and create jobs by cutting taxes for 95 percent of Americans, making health care more affordable and accessible, creating a new, clean energy economy, and modernizing our schools to prepare our workforce for global competition.

"President Obama’s budget will cut the deficit in half, even using CBO’s more pessimistic numbers, by making smart investments, cutting non-defense domestic discretionary spending to its lowest level in nearly half a century, and ending an era of irresponsibility and gimmicks.

"Over the next two weeks, I expect the House Budget Committee to produce, and the entire House will approve, a budget resolution that reflects the President’s priorities and will help usher in a new era of job creation and lasting prosperity for the American people."