Feingold On Record Budget Deficit

Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI), a member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement yesterday after the Treasury Department announced that the U.S. posted a record budget deficit of $455 billion for 2008.

“Today’s announcement would have been stunning had it not been so depressingly predictable. When he came into office, President Bush was handed a balanced budget and surpluses projected for the next decade.

"But his administration has produced the four worst annual deficits in history and left the country with a horrendous level of debt. The nearly three-quarters of a trillion dollar bailout bill, which was completely unfunded, will only add to that burden. Reining in the reckless budget policies of the past eight years must be among the highest priorities for the next President and the next Congress.”