Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) may be new at the job of Senate Republican Policy Committee chairman, but he’s already proving adept at compiling really nice fact sheets. Here are highlights from what he handed out to fellow Republican senators at today’s policy lunch — morsels about President Obama’s $3.8 trillion fiscal year 2013 budget proposal:
- Raises taxes by nearly $1.9 trillion – the largest tax increase in U.S. history. Raises taxes on people making more than $200,000 or couples making over $250,000. The two new tax brackets for those making over these amounts would be 36% and 39.6%.
- The budget calls for $11.2 trillion in additional gross debt from FY 2012 to FY 2022.
- The President’s budget counts $1 trillion in Budget Control Act savings that were passed into law more than six months ago. The Obama Administration originally wanted a clean debt limit increase without any spending cuts, but now he is including them in his claimed savings of $4 trillion.
- The budget also counts $1 trillion in savings in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) that the U.S. was never going to spend.
- The President’s budget proposes $350 billion in new stimulus spending.
- The President requests more than $2.3 billion for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy programs – a whopping 29.1% increase over FY 2012 enacted levels.
- The budget increases the EPA’s enforcement and compliance funds by 6%.
- The budget claims to save $362 billion on health care, but actually increases the deficit by simultaneously calling for $429 billion in unpaid-for spending on the Medicare physician reimbursement “doc fix.”
- The Presidents also asks for $317 million in new air passenger security fees – another $5 for every airline ticket (each way).
- Under the President’s budget, Americans who are currently 43 years old or younger will never get full Social Security benefits.
- The budget includes $47 billion over six years for high-speed rail, even though the Senate Democrats’ transportation bill contains no such funding and the President’s $50 billion high-speed rail proposal was rejected last year.
- The President imposes a new $61 billion tax in the form of a “Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee.”
Read all of the policy committee’s summary here. Obama’s Truth Team has probably already beat you to it.