The White House, supported by congressional Democrats, often points to the recession and soaring debt it inherited from the George W. Bush administration to explain why it had to dive into deficit spending.
But in his 2008 run for office, then-Sen. Barack Obama said stopping the deficit spending is the first step to recovery. "The first thing you do when you're in a hole is what? ... You stop digging. So the first thing that we're going to have to do is to stop adding to our deficit," he said.
Republicans readily point to that statement as they blame the massive increase in debt on Obama's economic stimulus plan and health care reform measures -- $5 trillion during this administration as the Treasury Department's own figures show.
"This dismal benchmark underscores the president's aversion to making tough fiscal choices in an election year," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a member of the Senate Finance and Budget committees, said on Monday.
Cornyn said Obama should heed the warning of his fiscal commission and start slashing costly programs from the budget. The fiscal commission recommended cutting $4 trillion over 10 years from spending increases scheduled by the government's "base-line budgeting" technique.
"Next month, the president will submit his budget to Congress and voters will see if we have a leader who possesses the audacity to right the ship or one who will continue to lead us down a path that has brought economies in Western Europe to their knees."
Read more: Republicans Blast Obama After National Debt Surpasses Economic Output | Fox News
But in his 2008 run for office, then-Sen. Barack Obama said stopping the deficit spending is the first step to recovery. "The first thing you do when you're in a hole is what? ... You stop digging. So the first thing that we're going to have to do is to stop adding to our deficit," he said.
Republicans readily point to that statement as they blame the massive increase in debt on Obama's economic stimulus plan and health care reform measures -- $5 trillion during this administration as the Treasury Department's own figures show.
"This dismal benchmark underscores the president's aversion to making tough fiscal choices in an election year," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a member of the Senate Finance and Budget committees, said on Monday.
Cornyn said Obama should heed the warning of his fiscal commission and start slashing costly programs from the budget. The fiscal commission recommended cutting $4 trillion over 10 years from spending increases scheduled by the government's "base-line budgeting" technique.
"Next month, the president will submit his budget to Congress and voters will see if we have a leader who possesses the audacity to right the ship or one who will continue to lead us down a path that has brought economies in Western Europe to their knees."
Read more: Republicans Blast Obama After National Debt Surpasses Economic Output | Fox News