(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) its March 2013 Porker of the Month for spearheading Senate Democrats’ excessively expensive fiscal year (FY) 2014 budget proposal, “Foundation for Growth: Restoring the Promise of American Opportunity.” The budget is Senate Democrats’ first attempt to pass a budget in four years. It is clear why they waited so long: they did not want taxpayers to see the gory details.
According to the Senate Budget Committee minority staff, Sen. Murray’s budget never balances, increases spending by 62 percent over 10 years, and includes $1.5 trillion in taxes. Compared to FY 2013, it increases spending by $162 billion, increases revenue by $314 billion, and increases the deficit by $152 billion in FY 2014 alone. The Murray budget document itself makes plain that federal outlays would grow from $3.7 trillion in FY 2014 to $5.7 trillion in FY 2023, an increase of 54 percent in current dollars.
Even worse, Sen. Murray’s budget plan is largely devoid of spending cuts that even her own party finds palatable. President Obama’s FY 2013 “Cuts, Consolidations, and Savings” report listed 210 recommendations that would save $24 billion in FY 2013 and $520 billion through FY 2022. That list offers the opportunity to reach a bipartisan consensus on spending reductions by targeting programs and practices that are wasting billions of dollars annually, yet they are absent from the Senate’s long-awaited budget.
“The Senate Democrats’ budget is an abomination,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz. “Sen. Murray’s budget represents more of what the big spenders have proposed for years, in which any spending levels below the status quo are unpalatable, and cuts of any size threaten to send the country back to the dark ages.
“Sen. Murray has described her budget as ‘a fair, responsible approach to tackling our debt and deficits,’ but even after 10 years, taxpayers would be left with a $566 million annual deficit and a growing national debt. That approach will only enhance the government’s sprint toward insolvency. Sen. Murray would do well to recognize that allowing federal spending to grow at a slightly slower rate is not threatening to American prosperity; it is necessary for our economic preservation.”
For laying a dud of a budget at the feet of taxpayers, raising spending while boasting of cuts, and accelerating the country’s descent into bankruptcy, Sen. Patty Murray is CAGW’s March 2013 Porker of the Month.
CAGW is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government. Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.
