Hoyer: President Obama's Budget Good for Maryland and the Nation
"Today, President Obama released his budget for Fiscal Year 2010, and it clearly shows the commitment to responsibility that is becoming a hallmark of the Obama Administration.
"The budget begins with an honest assessment of where we are: We are running a record deficit, and our national debt has topped $10 trillion. Those high figures were largely brought on by years of reckless borrowing. President Obama makes no attempts to cover up the seriousness of our situation. His budget honestly accounts for costs that have been hidden for years: the cost of two wars, indexing the alternative minimum tax, and disaster relief.
"The budget is also a strong blueprint for getting our Nation out of its fiscal mess. It makes the hard choices necessary to save trillions of dollars and cut the deficit in half by 2012. President Obama has also called for reinstating the pay-as-you-go rule in law-committing our government to paying for what it buys. President Obama has led by example by spelling out how he would pay for his major initiatives, including his tax cuts for 95 percent of American workers and investments in healthcare reform and clean energy.
"Finally, the budget makes investments in long-term economic growth: access to affordable healthcare, which is essential to fiscal stability; investments in clean energy technologies and addressing climate change to bring down the cost of energy in the long run; and more access to both early and higher education, which are necessary for a prepared, competitive workforce.
"These are areas that will build a stronger economy and future for Maryland as well as the Nation. On top of the economic recovery legislation just enacted -sending an estimated $3.8 billion to our state over the next two years - the budget's investments in such critical areas as health care, education and energy, will help strengthen our economy and keep it strong for years to come.
"I am also pleased to see that the President included support for the Promise Neighborhoods program - a community-based early education initiative that is very similar to the Full Service Community Schools concept I have championed in Congress and the highly successful Judy Centers serving young children and families in the State of Maryland. I look forward to working with Education Secretary Arne Duncan on applying the successes we have had in Maryland's Judy Centers to expand this idea and develop a national model of full-service early childhood education.
"This is a serious document for serious times, one that no longer sacrifices long-term needs to the politics of the moment. I look forward to working with President Obama as we make the tough decisions necessary for economic and fiscal recovery."
A summary of the budget prepared by the House Budget Committee is here.
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