Senate Committee on Finance Questions Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson About President’s 2009 Budget Proposal

In this morning’s Senate Committee on Finance hearing chaired by Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson was questioned about President Bush’s fiscal year 2009 budget proposal. The Committee’s questions were concerned primarily with Paulson and Bush’s stimulus proposal and their plans for avoiding economic recession in both the immediate and long term future.

Baucus emphasized that the President’s hope for a projected surplus by 2012 was “unrealistic.” The Senator went on to caution that the budget’s calls for Medicare and Medicaid spending cuts would be “devastating” to many dependent on the programs, including seniors, people with disabilities, and children. Baucus spoke out against the budget plans to further cut taxes.

Secretary Paulson’s defense was that he believed our economy could not handle anything that would further increase taxes. He reminded the Committee that the Bush Administration was succeeding with programs such as the HOPE NOW alliance. Paulson added he had “great confidence” in the ability of our market to recover from this difficult time.

Paulson and the Bush Administration want to see a plan implemented that is “robust, temporary, and broad-based.” While arguing philosophically about the best way to move our economy in the right direction, all present at the hearing were in agreement that what our government is doing now to help America is not working efficiently enough.