U. S. Comptroller Declares Bush Policies Will Keep Nation Deeply in Debt
U.S. Comptroller General David Walker, the nation's chief fiscal officer, interjected a dose of reality this week into President Bush's rosy claims that his Administration can cut the federal deficit in half within five years without changing policies. "The idea that this is manageable or that we are going to grow our way out of the problem is just flat false," Walker said.
In a speech at the National Press Club, Walker took direct issue with the President's ongoing insistence that his tax-cutting "pro-growth" policies and budget cutbacks are sufficient to "expand the economy and help bring down this deficit."
To the contrary, Walker said, "We need a wake-up call, "adding that the current huge deficits cannot be reversed without "significant changes in status quo programs, policies, processes and operations." He emphasized, "Our nation has a major long-term fiscal challenge that is not going away."
Although Bush pledged Thursday he wouldn't "pass [problems] on to other Presidents and other generations," he refused to change his mind about making his tax cuts permanent. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the cost to the deficit would be more than $1 trillion over the next ten years.
Um...unless I'm forgetting something here, didn't Bill Clinton balance the budget before he left office?
