Romney Campaign Press Release - Obama's Four Years Of Broken Promises On Spending

"For the last three-and-a-half years, President Obama's liberal policies of wasteful spending and skyrocketing debt haven't lived up to his own promises to control our nation's mounting deficits. As president, Mitt Romney will finally change Washington and stop passing our financial burdens on to the next generation." –Andrea Saul, Romney Campaign Spokesperson

Candidate Obama Promised To Go Through The Budget "Line By Line" – But President Obama's Administration "Squandered" Taxpayer Dollars On Wasteful Spending:

Candidate Obama, In 2008: "I Will Also Go Through The Federal Budget Line By Line ... We Cannot Meet 21st-Century Challenges With A 20th-Century Bureaucracy." OBAMA: "But I will also go through the federal budget line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less, because we cannot meet 21st-century challenges with a 20th-century bureaucracy." (Senator Barack Obama, Remarks, Denver, CO, 8/28/08)

"Taxpayer Dollars Were Squandered" After GSA Officials Spent Nearly $1 Million For A Lavish Conference For Only 300 Attendees. "GSA Administrator Martha Johnson admitted in a letter of resignation that her agency had made a 'significant misstep' and that 'taxpayer dollars were squandered.' A GSA Inspector General's report on the 2010 GSA 'Western Regions' training conference in Las Vegas shows the government spent more than $822,000 for the 300 attendees..." (Lesa Jansen, "GSA Head Resigns Over 'Wasteful' Las Vegas Seminar," CNN, 4/2/12)

The GSA Sent Employees To Hawaii "For Up To A Week" To "Attend An Hour-Long Ribbon Cutting." "The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said Wednesday that five employees associated with the recently scandal-plagued Government Services Administration went to Hawaii for up to a week in 2011 to attend an hour-long ribbon cutting on space leased by the federal government for the FBI." (Chad Pergram, "GSA Employees Travel To Hawaii Five-Days For A One-Hour Ribbon Cutting," Fox News, 4/11/12)

Of The First 12 Obama Administration Loans To Clean Energy Companies, "Two Firms Filed For Bankruptcy, A Third Has Faced Layoffs And A Fourth Deal Never Closed." "The bonuses and bankruptcies come against a growing wave of trouble for companies financed with Energy Department dollars. Of the first 12 loan guarantees the department announced, for instance, two firms filed for bankruptcy, a third has faced layoffs and a fourth deal never closed." (Ronnie Greene and Matthew Mosk, "Green Firms Get Fed Cash, Give Execs Bonuses, Fail," ABC News, 3/6/12)

Candidate Obama Claimed $4 Trillion In New Debt Was "Unpatriotic" – But President Obama Has Added More Than $5 Trillion In New Debt:

Candidate Obama, On Adding $4 Trillion In Debt: "That's Irresponsible. It's Unpatriotic." OBAMA: "The problem is, is that the way Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt from $5 trillion for the first 42 presidents - #43 added $4 trillion by his lonesome, so that we now have over $9 trillion of debt that we are going to have to pay back -- $30,000 for every man, woman and child. That's irresponsible. It's unpatriotic." (Senator Barack Obama, Remarks, Fargo, ND, 7/3/08)

Under President Obama, The National Debt Has Surpassed A Record $15.6 Trillion. (Department Of The Treasury, www.treasurydirect.gov, Accessed 5/13/12)

• President Obama Has Added More Than $5 Trillion To The Total National Debt. (Department Of The Treasury, www.treasurydirect.gov, Accessed 5/13/12)

By The End Of His Term In Office, President Obama Will Nearly Double The Nation's Public Debt. "On that January day, the debt held by the public was $6.3 trillion, according to U.S. Treasury Department data. Three years later, the total was nearly $10.5 trillion. ... The White House's Office of Management and Budget estimates that the debt held by the public will be about $12.8 trillion by the end of fiscal year 2013. The Congressional Budget Office has a slightly more conservative estimate of just under $12 trillion." (Eric Stirgus, "Obama Setting Debt Record, Georgia GOP Says," PolitiFact.com, 2/1/12)

The Washington Post: "[President Obama's] Record On The Growth Of National Debt Is The Worst Of Recent Presidents." "But the fact remains that under basic economic measures, not phony ones, his record on the growth of the national debt is the worst of recent presidents." (Glenn Kessler, "A Bogus Chart On Obama And The Debt Gets A New Lease On Life," The Washington Post, 9/29/11)

PolitiFact.com: "Obama Is The Undisputed Debt King Of The Last Five Presidents." "So by this measurement -- potentially a more important one -- Obama is the undisputed debt king of the last five presidents, rather than the guy who added a piddling amount to the debt, as Pelosi's chart suggested." (Louis Jacobson, "Nancy Pelosi Posts Questionable Chart On Debt Accumulation By Barack Obama, Predecessors," PolitiFact.com, 5/19/11)

Politico Headline: "CBO: Exploding Debt Under Obama Policies" (David Rogers, "CBO: Exploding Debt Under Obama Policies," Politico, 3/16/12)

President Obama Promised To Cut The Deficit In Half – But He Didn't "Come Close" To Keeping His Promise:

President Obama, In 2009: "Today I'm Pledging To Cut The Deficit We Inherited In Half By The End Of My First Term In Office." OBAMA: "[T]oday I'm pledging to cut the deficit we inherited in half by the end of my first term in office. This will not be easy. It will require us to make difficult decisions and face challenges we've long neglected. But I refuse to leave our children with a debt that they cannot repay – and that means taking responsibility right now, in this administration, for getting our spending under control." (President Barack Obama, Remarks, Washington, D.C., 2/23/09)

• An Obama White House Official Told Politico "We'll Cut It At Least In Half." "Under White House projections, this year's inherited budget deficit of $1.3 trillion will be cut to $533 billion by fiscal year 2013, the end of the first term. 'So we'll cut it at least in half,' the official said." (Mike Allen, "Obama Vows To Cut Huge Deficit In Half," Politico, 2/22/09)

President Obama's Latest Budget Breaks His Pledge And "Does Not Come Close" To Cutting The Deficit In Half. "The 2013 budget the president submitted today does not come close to meeting this promise of being reduced to $650 billion for fiscal year 2013. The president noted in that 2009 speech the Obama administration inherited a $1.3 trillion deficit. The deficit was similarly $1.3 trillion in 2011, is projected to be $1.15 trillion in 2012, and the president's budget claims it will be $901 billion in 2013." (Jake Tapper, "Obama's Broken Deficit Promise," ABC News, 2/13/12)

"Obama's Budget Projects That The Deficit For The Current Year Will Total $1.33 Trillion, The Fourth Straight Year Of Deficits Over $1 Trillion." ("Highlights Of Obama's $3.8 Trillion Budget," The Associated Press, 2/13/12)

According To A CBO Report, President Obama's Policies Will Result in $6.4 Trillion In Deficits In The Next Ten Years. "The Congressional Budget Office said Friday that President Barack Obama's tax and spending policies will yield $6.4 trillion in deficits over the next decade, more than double the shortfall in CBO's own fiscal baseline — even after taking credit for reduced war costs." (David Rogers, "CBO: Exploding Debt Under Obama," Politico, 3/16/12)