GOP budget proposal contains no numbers David Edwards and Joe Byrne

Published: Friday March 27, 2009





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At the beginning of this month, the DNC launched a party of no clock that counts the time between the announcement of Obama's budget and the presentation of a Republican alternative. It looks like that clock will have to keep ticking until next week.



Thursday's press conference given by House Republicans was expected to be the unveiling of the GOP budget proposal; but the document announced by Representative John Boehner(R-OH) turned out to be a simple blue-print of conservative values, lacking any real budget numbers.



Republicans and some conservative Democrats have been vocal in their opposition to Obama's budget proposal, released at the end of last month. Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa went on record two weeks ago, claiming that the Democrat's budget was "destroying opportunities for the next generation. The president and his allies in Congress want to spend too much, tax too much, and borrow too much," Grassley said. Obama responded to criticism in a news conference at the beginning of this week, saying, I suspect that some of those Republican critics have a short memory, because as I recall, I'm inheriting a $1.3 trillion annual deficit from them. He challenged the GOP to draft an alternate budget instead of simply criticizing his version.



Two days later, Boehner held up a blue booklet at a press conference and declared, Here it is, Mr. President.



The Republican Road to Recovery, as the 19-page document is titled, is a three-part outline of where congressional Republicans stand on Obama's budget plan. Curbing government spending, creating jobs and lowering taxes, and controlling the debt are the foundations of the Republican's argument. Much of the Road to Recovery is specific criticisms of the Democrat budget and policies, like energy and health care reform.



However, it is not a budget. There is no plan for government spending, nor are there tables illustrating how money will be allocated. When reporters received copies of the document, they realized that an alternative Republican budget wasn't going to be announced, even though the press conference was supposed to be the announcement of that budget.



According to the Huffington Post, reporters began questioning Boehner on specifics. Are you going to have any further details on this today?" one reporter asked. "On what?" responded Boehner. "There's no detail in here," the reporter explained.



White House spokesman Robert Gibbs was visibly pleased by the lack of detail in the Republican's budget. It's interesting to have a budget that doesn't contain any numbers. I think the 'Party of No' has become the party of no new ideas.



This video is from MSNBC's Countdown, broadcast Mar. 26, 2009.









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