While it has become popular for some to pretend that the current economic crisis and exploding national debt were created by President Obama and the Democratic leadership in Congress, the truth is that a series of reckless economic policies put forth by President George W. Bush are to blame for the vast majority of the country's economic problems.
The Bush tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations have led to the largest concentration of wealth since the Great Depression. His devastating and unnecessary war in Iraq was done without evidence linking the country to those who attacked us on September 11, 2001. And the Medicare prescription drug act that Bush signed into law intentionally prohibited Medicare from negotiating prescription drug prices, costing us billions every year. Each of these programs was not paid for and exacerbated the deficit problems our country already faced.
The Director of the Congressional Budget Office recently testified before the Joint Economic Committee, of which I'm a member, regarding the magnitude of our current economic crisis. By all estimations, we are in the most serious downturn since the Great Depression and everyday Americans are paying for it with lost jobs, lost homes and serious questions about their future economic security.
Determining just how deep of a hole the Bush administration dug for our country isn't about re-litigating the past. On the contrary, understanding what mistakes were made is essential to ensuring that similar problems do not occur in the future. That is why I've called on the director of the Congressional Budget Office to make a detailed analysis of the fiscal circumstances President Obama inherited when taking office in January of 2009.
The American people deserve a full accounting of the Bush administration's disastrous economic policies that got us into this mess. Here is the full text of the letter I sent to Director Elmendorf on March 15th to help get to the bottom of it.
March 18, 2010Douglas Elmendorf, Director
Congressional Budget Office
Ford House Office Building, 4th Floor
Second and D Streets, SW
Washington, DC 20515-6925Dear Director Elmendorf:
Thank you for your recent testimony before the Joint Economic Committee. As you pointed out at our hearing, the U.S. economy has not experienced a crisis of this magnitude and duration since the Great Depression. Congress has gone to great lengths to effectively mitigate the damage of the economy to the American taxpayer -- but there is still much more to be done. At a time when we are facing huge budget deficits and record unemployment, it is important for Congress to look back and understand the policy mistakes that have brought us to where we are today. For these reasons, I request an in-depth analysis of some of the policies put in place during the administration of President George W. Bush.
As you may recall, during the hearing we discussed my interest in an analysis of the set of fiscal circumstances President Obama inherited when taking office in January of 2009. Specifically, I was interested in the impact of three particular policies, which had no budget offsets and were put in place under the previous administration, including; .
- The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 and the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, which are the Bush tax cuts that reduced the tax liability for the wealthy at the expense of the middle class. These tax cuts resulted in the greatest concentration of wealth since 1929 with the richest one percent of Americans holding nearly half of the country's wealth.
- The Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, which created the "donut hole," also kept prescription drugs prohibitively expensive by preventing the negotiation of drug prices under Medicare.
- President Bush's costly invasion of Iraq beginning in March of 2003. This invasion was done in spite of the fact that Iraq was not involved with the planning of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S. nor did the country harbor any members of al-Qaeda, the terrorist group responsible for the attacks.
During the hearing, you indicated that the CBO had not done such an analysis because it had not been asked to do so; therefore, I request that the Congressional Budget Office conduct a thorough and complete analysis of the impact that these policies have had on our current budget deficits.
Your department has the opportunity to bring to light the policies that have brought us to where we are today. It is critical that Congress and the American people have a clear understanding of the set of circumstances the Obama administration and 111th Congress currently face as a direct result of the spending initiatives under President George W. Bush. I request your assistance in understanding in greater detail this important issue through a detailed report from the Congressional Budget Office.
Thank you for your help in this important matter.
Maurice D. Hinchey