Washington, DC - "So much for a bi-partisan end game for President Obama's presidency. His proposed 2016 Federal Budget shows his determination to leave office as head of a socialist nation. It ignores the state of the economy and his part in digging the hole the country is in and dismisses the Islamic terrorist threat," according to Dan Weber, president of the Association of Mature American Citizens.
Weber characterized the budget proposal as an "unabashed political statement" that speaks to the president's progressive base. He said its main purpose seems to be "hooking" Americans on government handouts and getting them to abandon free-market principles that made the U.S. the world's economic powerhouse "before he took office."
The proposal is loaded with new entitlements and disincentives to job creation, he said.
House Budget Committee Chair Tom Price and Senate Budget Committee Chair Mike Enzi put it this way in a joint statement: "The president is advocating more spending, more taxes and more debt. As we have seen over the past several years, that approach will yield less opportunity for the middle class and a crushing burden of debt that threatens both our future prosperity and our national security."
Researcher Matthew Sabas of the Manhattan Institute spotted several spending cuts in the budget, including one that he described as "good news for ISIS" - a Department of Defense reduction of funding for the war against that group of determined terrorists.
"Overseas Contingency Operation funding for operations against the Islamic State is expected to be $5.3 billion in 2016, down from $5.6 billion requested in 2015. Rather than reducing this funding, it needs to be increased," Sabas noted in his analysis.
Weber concluded that the budget is "another volley designed to further incite class warfare with a new call for income redistribution. Instead of creating ways for the middle class to climb the economic ladder, he offers them handouts such as free community college. Instead of making government more efficient and accountable, he seeks to increase the size and invasive role of the bureaucracy."
The new Republican Congress has a little more than half a year in which to set things right, he said. Paul Ryan will be the point man on the budget and has signaled that he is willing to negotiate, to keep ideas that benefit the middle class and to eliminate those that restrict their potential. He said: "I want to work with this administration, and I hope that we can find common ground. But the president has to demonstrate that he's interested in governing, not just posturing."
