Despite a sobering analysis of President Obama’s FY 2010 proposed budget by the Congressional Budget Office on Friday, President Obama and Democratic budget leaders remain steadfast in pushing forward healthcare reform. Under the President’s $3.6 trillion budget, the country’s cumulative deficit from 2010 to 2019 would skyrocket to $9.3 trillion--$2.3 trillion more than Obama had estimated when he released his budget--and would reach 82% of GDP by 2019, according to the CBO. Judd Gregg (R-NH), ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, reacted to the CBO report by stating that Obama’s budget would push debt to “unsustainable” levels and “could very well bankrupt future generations.”
But in his weekly address to the American public on Saturday, Obama insisted that, while the dollar amount in his budget would undoubtedly change before the House and Senate vote on the proposal in the next weeks, the final version would include a “serious investment” in health care reform. “So to those who say we have to choose between healthcare reform and fiscal discipline, I say that making investments now that will dramatically lower health care costs for everyone won’t add to our budget deficit in the long-term--it is one of the best ways to reduce it,” said the President. Kent Conrad (D-ND), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, concurred, saying that his committee was finding ways to adjust the budget “to keep the deficit on a downward trajectory,” but that healthcare reform would remain a top priority.
