Obama's tax and spend budget

By Conn Carroll | Senior Editorial Writer

A president's budget is never adopted by Congress as is. But they are political statements of where the president would like to take the country. And the budget President Obama released yesterday speaks loud and clear: He wants an America of higher taxes, higher spending, and more debt.

Specifically, compared to the current Congressional Budget Office baseline, Obama's budget raises taxes by $1.9 trillion, raises spending by $2.7 trillion, and adds $3.6 trillion to the national debt.

In Obama's America, the federal government would consume through taxes 20.1 percent of the nation's GDP by 2020. The historical average is 18 percent. In Obama's America, federal government spending would never fall below 22 percent of GDP. No president in the history of the country spent more than 22 percent of GDP for eight straight years. To match his historic tax and spending numbers, Obama's America would also raise our public debt-to-GDP ratio to a historic 76.5 percent high.

Along the way, Obama uses the budget to reward his friends and punish his. His budget ends the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program thus denying thousands of low-income D.C. school children the $8,000 voucher's they need to attend the schools of their choice. Instead, Obama gives rich families $10,000 vouchers to buy the Chevy volt.

A budget is a statement of priorities. Obama has made it clear what matters most to him.

Campaign 2012
Polls: Rick Santorum is now ahead of Mitt Romney in Pew's latest national poll of the Republican field (30 percent to 28 percent) and he is only two-points behind Romney in Gallup's national tracking poll (32 percent to 30 percent).

Romney: The Washington Examiner's Byron York explains that, since Rick Santorum is challenging Mitt Romney only in Michigan, while Newt Gingrich is campaigning in Arizona, Newt and Santorum will both get to prove which candidate would do best against Romney without the other in the race.

Michigan: Rick Santorum is now beating Mitt Romney in Michigan, according to PPP's latest poll (39 percent to 24 percent) and ARG's latest poll (33 percent to 27 percent).

Around the Bigs
ABC News, Obama's Broken Deficit Promise: In 2009, President Obama promised to cut the deficit in half by the end of hist first term in office. At the time, the deficit was believed to be $1.3 trillion. The deficit was $1.3 in 2011, is projected to be $1.15 trillion in 2012, and the president's budget claims it will be $901 billion in 2013.

McClatchy, Heaviest 2013 defense budget cuts would fall on troops: The brunt of defense spending cuts in Obama's budget would fall on U.S. ground troops, which face job losses, modest pay raises and increased health care costs while serving in a smaller force.

The Washington Post, Price tag for Wall Street bailout goes up: Thanks to the falling value of stocks still owned by the federal government through the Wall Street bailout, the cost of the bailout is now up to $61 billion.

The Washington Examiner, Republicans unveil payroll tax cut extension: House Republicans announced Monday they will introduce a bill to extend an expiring 2 percent payroll tax cut until 2013, but without providing a way to cover its $95 billion cost.

The Oregonian, House Republicans block Oregon's health insurance exchange in surprise vote: A bipartisan coalition in the Oregon House of Representatives blocked approval of the state's health insurance exchange this morning. Without state funds, the Obama administration must create the exchange.

The Hill, Pew study: 2 million dead Americans on active voter rolls: A new study by the Pew Center on the States shows that nearly 2 million dead Americans are still on active voter registries, and one in every eight registrations in the United States is invalid or has major inaccuracies.

Righty Playbook
At RedState, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., says the only solution to Obamacare's "tyrannical attack on religious freedom" is full repeal.

Future of Capitalism notes that if rumors are true that Obama will propose to lower the corporate tax rate, Warren Buffett will come out $241 million ahead even after Obama raises his personal taxes.

Cato's Michael Cannon notes that Obama's budget does not contain enough money to build Obamacare exchanges in the states.

Lefty Playbook
ThinkProgress reports that Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, both support President Obama's new mandate forcing religious institutions to pay for abortifacients.

At The Huffington Post, Robert Redford is trying to get 500,000 liberals to sign a petition against the Keystone XL pipeline today.

Talking Points Memo reports that Senate Democrats plan to tack the doc fix and unemployment insurance onto the House's new payroll tax cut bill and pay for it with tax hikes on the rich.