Heather Higginbottom, Obama's OMB Nominee Acknowledges Obama's 2012 Budget Doesn't Reduce Debt

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Birthplace of Independent Conservatism


President Obama's nominee for the position of deputy director of the OMB buckled under questioning by Senator Sessions (R-AL) during the Senate Budget committee hearings this past Thursday. Unable to defend statements by Obama and OMB Director Jacob Lew she acknowledged that the President's 2012 budget in fact does not pay down our nation's debt.

From The Daily Caller:
President Obama’s nominee for deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) tried, but failed to defend the proposed budget for fiscal year 2012 in a Senate Budget Committee hearing Thursday afternoon.

Obama’s nominee, Heather Higginbottom, crumbled under questioning from Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, ranking member of the committee, about the accuracy of statements the president and OMB Director Jacob Lew have made that the proposed budget will not add to the national debt.

The more than six-minute long questioning consisted of numerous exchanges that saw Higginbottom trying to dodge direct questions regarding the impact the president’s budget would have on the national debt:

Sessions: Did Mr. Lew or the President of the United States, when they made that statement “we will not be adding to the debt,” did they say, “by the way American people, what we really mean is some arcane idea about not counting interest payments the United States must make as part of our debt?” Did they say that?

Higginbottom: I’m not sure exactly what they did say.

Sessions: Well if they didn’t say that, would that be an accurate statement?

Higginbottom: The interest costs on what we’re borrowing add to the debt…

A few minutes later:

Sessions: You’re saying that what the president really meant but that he didn’t say, is that one year or so, that you calculate, if you don’t count the interest… then we can tell the American people we’re not adding to our debt?

Do you think that’s a legitimate way to discuss with the American people the debt crisis we now face?

Higginbottom: …It puts us on a path to stabilize the debt as a percentage of our economy, which is a very important first step in eventually being able to able to pay it down, which is the large task in front of us.

Sessions goes on to ask Higginbottom if she knows the last three years of the president’s ten-year budget proposal all have rising deficits. Higginbottom – the president’s nominee for the second highest position at the OMB — replied with, “I don’t have the deficit table in front of me.”

Sessions’ questioning ends with him pointing out that the president’s proposed budget for FY2012 does not have one year where the deficit falls below $600 billion.

“That is correct,” Higginbottom confirms.

Video of the exchange:


Via: Memeorandum

Comments

  1. Almost makes me yearn for the days of Clinton and Gingrich. At least they were able to count back then.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah, I know what you mean. Although my progressive brother has reminded me that Clinton generated a balanced budget not because he wasn't a big spender but rather the restrictions placed on him by the Republicans at the time.

    Actually I long for someone with Reagan's leadership ability and vision for America (true limited government) minus the supply side economics.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You guys really didn't understand the accounting there, huh?

    Sessions said, "You're correct," to my point.

    Sessions then asked about other people's statements that ostensibly propose "adding more to the national debt."

    "Does this budget do that?" He asked.

    She then explained basic finance to him.

    Listening to Sessions is like listening to a pre-K schoolyard argument between a fat 5-year old boy and a smart little girl.

    What a joke.

    JMJ

    ReplyDelete
  4. Right JMJ. Right.

    I ain't buying your take on this one.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The news is out. We are screwed. The Obama Administration and the collective progressives all have the mathematical ability of 4-year olds.

    JMJ played the hand very well: Denial. Mockery. Pure sycophantic sucking at the teat of fiscal incompetence. (Not personal, JMJ. But come on...you are so entrenched in Obama and your collective socialist dream that even when you are on fire, you will say it is just a ploy by the Right to make people think you are on fire. Tedious. Very tedious.)

    *sigh*....we're so screwed.

    Donald in Bethel, CT

    ReplyDelete

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