Hillary Clinton Campaign Press Release - Hillary Discusses Need For Fiscal Responsibility; Relief For South Dakota Families

Clinton criticizes Bush and McCain's Reckless Fiscal Policies

BRANDON, SD –  As gas and grocery prices continue to climb heading into this Memorial Day weekend, Senator Hillary Clinton today joined families at a local Sunshine Foods grocery store in Brandon, S.D. for a "Solutions to Secure South Dakota's Future" Conversation about her commitment to fiscal responsibility and her plans to provide relief and economic opportunity to South Dakota families.

"President Bush inherited the largest projected surplus in our nation's history, and turned it into deficits as far as the eye can see.  We now have a $9 trillion debt, and we borrow money from the Chinese to buy oil from the Saudis. We've got to start reducing the deficit and get back to fiscal responsibility.  It's time to get back to the bi-partisan consensus we had in the 1990's: you don't spend what you don't have on what you don't need.  And that's exactly what I'll do as President," said Senator Clinton. "The contrast with Senator McCain couldn't be greater.  John McCain would take President Bush's reckless record and double down. He is proposing more than $400 billion in new tax cuts and spending programs without a hint as to how he would pay for them.  It's the most fiscally reckless plan ever put forward by a presidential candidate."

Hillary was joined by Sarah Shortbull, a life-long resident of Yankton, S.D. whose husband Paul is serving in Iraq. The couple is about to celebrate their one-year wedding anniversary this July and Sarah is hard at work going to school to get her Master's degree so she can earn a better living as a counselor and help young people, veterans and families with special needs.

"We need a president who will fight to ensure that young families have a secure future and someone who has what it takes to fix this economy. There was a time when our country had budget surpluses and spent responsibly – those days are long gone and as economic uncertainties continue for families across South Dakota, our country gets further and further into debt," said Shortbull.  "I believe that Hillary Clinton has the experience, the determination and the plans to get our country back on track."

Over the last eight years, President Bush has overseen an historic deterioration in our nation's budget outlook. As a result, every child born in this country now has $30,000 in national debt on his or her shoulders.  Furthermore, the Bush Administration's reckless fiscal policies have left us increasingly vulnerable to the whims of countries like China, which currently holds $500 billion in US public debt – more than seven times the amount it held in 2000. Ballooning debt and ongoing deficits not only weaken our economy, but threaten to make credit more expensive for middle class families, who are already struggling with declining incomes and skyrocketing costs. Household incomes have fallen by $1000 since Bush took office.  Meanwhile everyday items like food and gas are hitting record highs—in South Dakota, a gallon of milk rivals the cost of a gallon of gas, which just reached $3.78.  College costs have increased 57 percent in South Dakota since 2000, while health care premiums rose by 34 percent. 

Unfortunately, Senator McCain has embraced President Bush's fiscal recklessness on the campaign trail. He has already proposed more than $400 billion per year in new tax cuts and spending programs without offering any credible explanation of how he would pay for them.  His plan would result in the largest deficits in American history – even bigger than the deficits President Bush has overseen – or force unprecedented across-the-board spending cuts in important domestic priorities like health care, education and veterans programs.

Hillary Clinton believes we need to take our country in a different direction, and return to the era of fiscal responsibility that allowed us to enter the 21^st century with record surpluses.  As President, Hillary will make fiscal responsibility a priority again, while making sure Washington works for middle class families, instead of only the wealthiest Americans and most well-connected corporate special interests.

Hillary Clinton is the only candidate with a serious, credible plan to pay for all her initiatives while returning us to balanced budgets.  Hillary believes that leadership on fiscal discipline must begin on the campaign trail. That is why she has shown exactly how she would pay for every one of her campaign commitments without increasing the deficit.  For example, Hillary's health care plan will be paid for by a combination of letting the Bush income tax cuts expire for the wealthiest Americans and aggressively reducing health care costs.  And her universal pre-kindergarten plan will be funded by reducing the number of federal contractors by 500,000.  In addition, Hillary is the only candidate that has identified specific savings that can be used for deficit reduction so we can move back toward balanced budgets.  For example, she has not committed any of the savings that will come from ending the Iraq war to new campaign initiatives. Those savings total more than $100 billion per year that Hillary can use to reduce the deficit or address other unforeseen priorities.

In striking contrast, Senator McCain has proposed $400 billion per year in new tax cuts without offering any credible explanation of how he would pay for them. His plan includes more than $100 billion in corporate tax cuts, complete elimination of the AMT even for the wealthiest Americans, and other tax cuts that focus the vast majority of their benefits on the highest income Americans. In fact, Senator McCain's tax plan benefits the wealthy even more than the Bush tax cuts have.  Senator McCain will give 58 percent of the benefits from his tax plan to the top 1% of taxpayers, compared to 31% under President Bush's plan. [Center for American Progress, 2008]. Independent analyses agree that Senator McCain's economic plan is fiscally reckless and unattainable, and fault him for refusing to specify where he would cut spending to pay for the new tax cuts:

• The Wall Street Journal: John McCain's tax cuts "would either cause the federal deficit to explode or would require unprecedented spending cuts equal to one-third of federal spending on domestic programs." [Laura Meckler, "McCain Tax Cuts Would Bloat Deficit or Take Huge Spending Curbs," The Wall Street Journal, April 22, 2008.]
• The Economist: Since John McCain "has so far been afraid to list the deductions he will axe and the loopholes he will close, his plans amount, at best, to half a fiscal policy, and the easy half at that."  ["The Man With Half a Plan," The Economist, April 17, 2008.)
• The New York Times: John McCain "would dig a much deeper hole than even President Bush, exactly what the country does not need...[McCain] should have no trouble recognizing political pandering, which is the only explanation for many of his proposals." ["Senator McCain Digs In," The New York Times, April 20, 2008.]
  

Hillary Clinton will restore fiscal discipline and tax fairness while cutting middle class taxes by $100 billion per year.  Hillary's middle class tax agenda will put thousands of dollars back in the pockets of families struggling to make ends meet.  Her plan will not increase taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 dollars a year - including income taxes, capital gains and dividends taxes, and payroll taxes.  Instead, she has proposed more than $100 billion in tax cuts to help middle class families pay for health care, college costs, caring for an elderly parent or disabled child, and saving for retirement. A typical family making $50,000 would receive at least $4,500 in tax benefits, including a matching tax cut of up to $1,000 to help save and build wealth, a $3,500 tax credit to help pay for college costs, and a generous tax cut to make health care affordable.

Senator McCain's economic plan will give more than $100 billion in new tax cuts to America's largest and most profitable corporations.  John McCain's plan would lower the corporate tax rate and reduce the amount of taxes paid by corporations by almost 30 percent.  This means Exxon, the most profitable company in history, will get a $1.4 billion tax cut, Halliburton will get a $500 million tax cut, and America's largest health insurance corporations will get a $2 billion tax cut.

Hillary Clinton has an immediate plan to provide relief to middle class families struggling with soaring food and energy prices.  Hillary understands that middle class families are facing extreme financial pressure due to falling incomes and home prices alongside skyrocketing costs for everything from gas to food to college. Hillary has an immediate plan to provide relief to these families. She has proposed $30 billion for states and localities to help keep families in their homes and stabilize communities that could otherwise be devastated by the downward spiral of home prices and foreclosures. She has called for immediately extending unemployment insurance to help people who have been laid off and are struggling to find work in our weak economy. And she has also proposed collecting a windfall profits tax from oil companies and using the money to suspend the gas tax for the peak summer months, lessening some of the burden on families struggling to pay for gas to drive to work or take their children to school.