(CNSNews.com) – Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said Wednesday that President Obama’s plan to allow the tax cuts to expire on the wealthiest two percent of Americans doesn’t not actually balance the budget.
On Wednesday, CNSNews.com asked Stabenow at the U.S. Capitol: “In what year does president Obama’s plan to let the tax cuts on the top 2 percent expire balance the budget? And how soon do you think we should balance the budget?”
The Michigan senator replied: “Well, the larger question of balancing the budget – just having the top two rates expire and the wealthiest contribute does not balance the budget. It’s going to take a multitude of things. We all know that. It’s going to take common sense spending reductions. It’s going to take the right kind of revenue policy. So it takes both to get it done. But we’ve got to do it step by step.
CNSNews.com asked Stabenow in what year she would like to see the budget balanced.
She said: “Obviously, we’d love to do it as soon as we could. It’s going to take a number of years so that we make sure we have also economic growth. We’ll never get out of debt with 12 million people out of work. So we also have to make sure that we’re doing this in a smooth transition so that we’re continuing to grow as an economy as well.”
As CNSNews.com has reported, the Congressional Budget Office's analysis shows that even under the so-called "fiscal cliff" scenario--in which Congress allows current laws signed by President Barack Obama to stand and allows all of the tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush to expire at the end of the year and “sequestration” of some anticipated federal spending to take place--the federal government still will not balance its budget.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, under current law, federal tax revenues will rise to a record level as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the coming decade, but annual federal spending will also increase by 55 percent and ongoing deficits will require Congress to lift the debt limit by another $4.25 trillion.
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/democratic-senator-obama-s-plan-does-not-balance-budget
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