Congressman Price Says Obama Shouldn't Lecture Wall Street About Excessive Spending

This is a rush transcript from "Your World With Neil Cavuto," May 7, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

BRIAN SULLIVAN, GUEST HOST: The president today touting $17 billion in cuts, cuts are a good thing. The problem is that the $17 billion in cuts is a record — well, in a record $3.6 trillion budget, amounts to one half of one percent. On a day when the banks are being told to get their act together on spending, should the president lead by example? Republican Congressman Tom Price says yes.

Congressman, welcome to "Your World." Hey, $17 billion is real money. It is a good start. There has to be more to come, right?

REP. TOM PRICE, (R), GEORGIA: Without a doubt, Brian. Great to be with you. Seventeen billion dollars is a baby step in slow motion. When you have a $3.6 trillion budget that this president has put on the table, his budget, that is $1.3 trillion over what the government will take in. That means we continue to dive in deficits. We continue to increase debts. That is moving in the wrong direction. That's mortgaging our children's and our grandchildren's future. It's the wrong direction to head.

SULLIVAN: All right. But we've got Jared Bernstein of the White House coming up right after you. And he'll say, listen, given the severity of the economic downturn, we have to spend money to get things going again. How do you counter that?

PRICE: That's exactly right. That's what families all across this nation, if they could just spend more money when they don't have it, they would get out of debt, right? That's nonsense. Spending money when you don't have it to try to recover is just foolishness. It will — it won't work. It has never worked in the history of any nation in the world.

The way to get our house in order is to decrease the amount of spending, increase the amount of ability for small businesses all across this nation to create jobs, which is what we ought to be doing instead of harming them, and allow the American people to keep more of their hard-earned money. That is what will get this economy going.

SULLIVAN: All right. I am going to show our viewers a chart right now from the Congressional Budget Office of the projected increase in spending. It kind of looks like the housing market in 2006 on the far right-hand side.

A huge jump, but I will say this, I'm not going to pin it all on the White House because the last few years, we have seen 7, 8, and 9 percent increases in federal outlays under the previous president, not exactly the model of fiscal restraint either, congressman.

PRICE: No, you're absolutely right. And Republicans and Democrats have both spent too much money, but the difference in this is that this is unprecedented spending, $3.6 billion, again, $1.3 trillion more than we're taking in. That is $11,000 for every man, woman, and child in this nation.

The people across this nation who are watching, I do not think they've been — each of them has spent $11,000, sent it to the federal government, and they shouldn't. But the federal government ought not be spending that money.

There's a way to get out of this in a positive way that embraces fundamental American principles. That's allowing people to keep more of their hard-earned money, making it so that small businesses across this nation can grow. Don't punish them, which is what this administration and this.

SULLIVAN: But isn't there a tax.

PRICE: . Democrat leadership in Congress.

SULLIVAN: . cut for 95 percent.

PRICE: . is doing.

SULLIVAN: . of Americans? Again, that's what the White House will say. We are giving two-income families back — most of them, about $800.

PRICE: What is wrong with 100 percent? How about a tax cut for 100 percent of the American people. The five percent of the American people that the president isn't allowing a tax, in fact, he is increasing taxes, many of those, 60 percent of those are small business across this nation that create the jobs. Those are the folks we ought to be lifting up and helping at this time, not hurting. And that is — I'm saddened to say, that's what this administration and the Congress is doing.

SULLIVAN: All right. Congressman Price, thank you very much for joining us on "Your World."

PRICE: Thank you, Brian.

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