“Republicans are ready to do the work of passing a responsible budget. We’re going to pass a budget, with common-sense spending, that fits America’s priorities – not Washington and President Obama’s priorities.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor in response to President Obama’s FY 2016 Budget:

Excerpts of his remarks:

“I’d like to join in the comments from my distinguished, able, and learned colleague from South Dakota, to talk about what happened when the president yesterday released his budget for the next fiscal year.

“I agree with my colleague from South Dakota that the president’s spending is absolutely astonishing.

“The President wants to spend $4 trillion in 2016. $4 trillion. That’s a billion dollars 4,000 times.

“Nobody’s ever seen a budget that big before.

“The New York Times ran an article after the budget came out yesterday, with a headline: ‘Liberal aspirations, set out as a budget.’

“The article said, ‘President Obama presented a budget on Monday that is more utopian vision than pragmatic blueprint.’

“Well, the American people don’t want a utopian vision. They want responsible leadership, responsible leadership that understand their needs, and the challenges that people face every day.

“So far this year, all we’ve seen from the president is a list of ways that he wants to spend taxpayers’ hard earned dollars.

“These ideas are so unrealistic, that there’s really been no sign that the president actually wants to get anything done for the rest of his term.

“If the president wanted to get something done, what he would do is he would write a budget that spends a reasonable amount of money in a responsible way.

“If he wanted to get something done, he would offer responsible tax simplification. Instead, the President of the United States asked for more taxes on hard working American families.

“That’s what he did when he said last month that he wanted to raise taxes on college savings plans.

“Well, millions of people use those plans to give their children a chance at a better future. When even Democrats in Congress told the president that it was a terrible idea, the president finally had to relent and drop his plan.  

“Then came the State of the Union address, and the president had more ideas for even additional new taxes.

“The Tax Policy Center analyzed those ideas, and they found that millions of middle class families would pay even higher taxes under the president’s plans.

“When they looked at families squarely in the middle of the middle class, they found that only about 1 in 4 of them would even get a tax break.

“And instead, twice as many families in the middle of the middle class, would see their taxes go up – and they’d pay almost $300 more on average under President Obama’s plan. Almost $300 a year.

“How is that a good deal for hard working taxpayers all across the country, for middle class families?

“Another study looked at some of the president’s other plans for tax increases. It found that those ideas would lead to a smaller economy, and smaller incomes. How is that a good ideal for the middle class?

“Now we have the president’s budget. Next year, he wants to increase spending by seven percent over what Washington will spend this year.

“Did most Americans get a raise of seven percent last year? Of course not. Under President Obama’s economy, wages have been stagnant.

“Part-time workers are having their hours cut, their paychecks cut. Why, well because of the president’s health care law.

“People are paying higher premiums, higher deductibles, higher co-pays for health insurance that meets all of President Obama’s mandates—but doesn’t necessarily meet the needs for them of their families.

“President Obama still has not learned that every dollar that Washington takes out of the pockets of hard working taxpayers all across the country, is a dollar that they can’t use for themselves—to spend to save, to invest.

“In his budget the president sent over yesterday, he wants to add another $474 billion to Washington’s debt next year alone. See what the debt is and he wants to add it to the debt on top of that.

“He wants another $8.5 trillion of debt over the next decade.

“Every one of those numbers is right there in his budget – and every one of them is bad news for hard working American taxpayers.

“Americans aren’t asking the president to add trillions of dollars to Washington’s out-of-control spending and debt.

“They know that they’re the ones who are going to have to pay for this new spending. The president may not realize it, but the American taxpayer knows it.

“The White House says that it can add all this new spending because the budget deficit this year, as they say, will only be $468 billion.

“I mean that’s how out of touch his administration is.  The president sees a deficit of $468 billion, that’s adding it on top of the debt, and declaring victory.

“He wants to celebrate by piling on more debt, to spend on his priorities, not on the priorities of hard working American families. It’s not a victory.

“Under President Obama’s budget, Washington’s debt will climb over the next 10 years to more than $26 trillion.

“That’s $75,000 for every man, woman and child in America that each and every one of them would owe, to pay off that debt, that President Obama is suggesting in his budget.

“All of that debt, and the president’s budget does nothing to preserve and protect Social Security—nothing to preserve and protect Social Security so it’s there for that next generation.

“Is that really the legacy that President Obama wants to leave for America’s young people?

“At least the president sent his budget to Congress by the deadline this year.

“This is President Obama’s seventh budget – and five of those times he turned it over after the legal deadline.

“Maybe the president should have taken a little more time to double check his math – because the president’s figures just don’t add up for the American people.

“President Obama’s economic policies have led to far less growth than we would have had following the recession.

“According to the latest numbers released on Friday, our economy grew by just 2.4 percent last year. That’s not really what it should be, not for our country.

“We’ve tried President Obama’s ideas for the last six years – and they have failed. They have failed the American people.

“This budget is more of the same ideas – more middle class taxes, more spending, more debt. And Democrats in Congress didn’t even offer a budget the past few years.

“Republicans are ready to do the work of passing a responsible budget. We’re going to pass a budget, with common-sense spending, that fits America’s priorities – not Washington and President Obama’s priorities.

“We’ll pass a budget that actually helps middle class families thrive, and helps our economy grow.

“We’ll pass a budget that takes control of Washington’s spending, and starts to bring down President Obama’s massive debt.

“Republicans in Congress understand that governing responsibly begins with budgeting responsibly.  

“Instead of more new spending that middle class hard working American families can’t afford, we will balance the budget, we will cut waste, and we will support programs that deliver real results.

“That’s what the president should have done – what he should have is show real leadership, not just more ‘utopian vision.’

“The president missed his chance to lead – now Republicans will produce a budget that focuses on jobs, economic growth, and opportunity for all Americans.”