New Analysis Details McCain's and Obama's Stimulus Proposals

Both candidates for president have offered new stimulus proposals to address the ongoing threats to the economy. While Republican nominee John McCain and Democratic nominee Barack Obama would each increase the already record breaking 2009 deficit, neither comes with any plan to balance the budget once the economy has stabilized.

That is one of the major conclusions of an analysis released today by US Budget Watch in its Guide to Stimulus Proposals: The 2008 Presidential Election. This is the second in a series of reports on the budget impact of the proposals made by each candidate.

"The first step for any new president will be to make sure that the economy has stabilized - but once that is done, they will quickly have to turn their attention to getting our fiscal house in order," stated Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and author of the US Budget Watch reports.

"Each presidential candidate's economic stimulus proposal will pile more onto the debt," MacGuineas said. "The Guide to Stimulus Proposals provides the insight to help voters decide what trade-offs they are willing to make as the fiscal realities continue to deteriorate. The candidates have been far more detailed in how they would spend money than how they would save it."

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget this week will release four separate reports analyzing the economic proposals of Sens. McCain and Obama. The analyses are: Economic Stimulus (today), Social Security (Tuesday, Oct. 28), Taxes (Wednesday, Oct. 29), and Health Care (Thursday, Oct. 30). Each analysis will be available on the US Budget Watch website (http://www.usbudgetwatch.org) at 10:00 a.m. the day it is released.

These reports follow the US Budget Watch's Promises, Promises: A Fiscal Voter Guide to the 2008 Election. The report analyzed the deficit impacts of the campaign promises of Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama. The report found that both candidates' policy proposals would increase the deficit by well over $200 billion in 2013 alone.

To learn more about US Budget Watch, please visit http://www.usbudgetwatch.org.

About US Budget Watch

US Budget Watch is a project designed to increase awareness of the important fiscal issues facing the country through and beyond the election. The project draws attention to the presidential candidates' tax and spending policies to help voters become better informed about these issues and to track the new president's fiscal policies after the election. US Budget Watch is a project of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget at the New America Foundation and is supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts. None of these organizations support or oppose any candidate for office. http://www.usbudgetwatch.org.

About The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget is a bipartisan, non-profit organization committed to educating the public about issues that have significant fiscal policy impact. The committee is made up of some of the most important budget experts in the country including many of the past chairmen of the House and Senate Budget Committees, directors of the Congressional Budget Office and the Office of Management and Budget, and members of the Federal Reserve Board. For more information about the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, visit http://www.crfb.org.