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GOP predicts doomsday if Obama budget passed

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-03-23 07:58

Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican who sided with Obama on his $787 billion economic stimulus plan, said she couldn't support the White House plan this time.

"It would double the public debt in 5 years, triple it in 10 years. ... That is not sustainable. It poses a threat to the basic health of our economy," Collins said.

Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican on the banking committee, said Obama would have to scale back his budget, given a Congressional Budget Office report Friday that the president's budget would produce $9.3 trillion in deficits over the next decade -- more than four times the deficits of Republican George W. Bush's presidency.

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Shelby predicted that number could reach $20 trillion in coming years as Obama guides the country to "the fast road to financial destruction."

North Dakota Democrat Kent Conrad, chairman of the Senate budget committee, acknowledged, "We cannot have debt pile on top of debt." He added: "In the short term, yes, we have got to have added deficits and debt to give lift to this economy, but longer term, we have got to pivot."

The CBO predicted a deficit of $2.3 trillion worse than what the administration projected. Romer downplayed those numbers.

"There is a question whether CBO is right. So we know that forecasts -- both of what the economy is going to do and of what the budget deficits are going to do -- are highly uncertain," she said.

Asked the level of her confidence in an improving economy, Romer was concise: "Incredibly confident. ... We absolutely think that they are going to do the job for the American economy."

Vice President Joe Biden's economic adviser said the administration was open to negotiate with lawmakers. "We don't expect these folks to sign on the dotted line," Jared Bernstein said.

However, he added, "What we do expect and what we are going to stand very firm on, because this president, this vice president have made this clear, that there are these priorities that brought them to the dance here: energy reform, health care reform, education, all done in the context of a budget that cuts the deficit in half over our first term."

Bernstein and Conrad spoke on ABC's "This Week." Romer spoke on "Fox News Sunday" and CNN's "Face the Nation." Shelby spoke on "Fox News Sunday." Gregg appeared on CNN's "State of the Union."

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