Thursday, March 26, 2009

What's Missing From The GOP Budget Proposal? Numbers!


The 'party of no,' with a lot of hooplah, put their cards on the table yesterday. As promised, the GOP, who had been criticized for their vehement opposition to the president's budget, without having put forth an alternative proposal, allegedly produced their own budget....19 pages, in fact.

There was just one minor problem.

The report did not contain a single number. Not even a hint of ballpark figures.

The Merriam Webster definition of 'budget' reads as follows:
A statement of the financial position of an administration for a definite period of time based on estimates of expenditures during the period and proposals for financing them.
Yes, numbers are supposed to be a part of a budget. This had none. What a fiasco.

Today, Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs noted that there were more pictures of windmills in the GOP proposal then there were charts with numbers. He then followed up by saying that there was only one picture of a windmill. Ouch.

Even GOP supporters in the press are scratching their heads. In his online blog, the National Review's David Freddoso noted, after receiving his copy,
I was not the only reporter in the room during the delayed press conference who had expected to see some numbers, at least ballpark. Today's press conference did not provide further details.
According to House Minority Leader John Boehner (in a perfect world, it would be pronounced Boe-ner), specific numbers would be available next week.

Maybe they started working on it today.

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